


Warriors of Vermillion : Puppets of the Crystals

by Miyu_Kagirohi



Series: Warriors of Vermillion [2]
Category: Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Agito, Final Fantasy Type-0
Genre: Biological Warfare, Falling In Love, Friendship, Gen, Human Experimentation, Love, Magic, Phantoma, Politics, War, War Crimes, dark secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28566186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miyu_Kagirohi/pseuds/Miyu_Kagirohi
Summary: On the year of 842 R.G., the world of Orience as we know it will soon change, once again. Wars, politics, foul plays between the four warring nations never changed, the only thing that changed was how every nation played everything out, as according to the wills of their Crystals, in which they had one goal in common: Conquer Orience. Little did they know, when one nation emerged victorious, something will happen, and they had to be ready for it, as one.
Relationships: Ace/Tohno Mahoroha, Kurasame Susaya/Aoi Tomoshibi, Machina Kunagiri/Rem Tokimiya, Miyu Kagirohi/Reon Kurayami
Series: Warriors of Vermillion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011771
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

**Ign. III 842 R.G.**

“ _Blood… was this mine? My eyes… I can’t see a thing… I have to leave this place alive… for her._ ”

The darkness of the night consumed the cadet, who was helplessly being surrounded, he was powerless, his strength was sapped into nothing, and he couldn’t even use magic anymore due to his tiredness and wounds. He already cut down 20 imperials all by himself, but all that wouldn’t matter as 30 more imperials slowly advanced towards him, seemingly confident that he was done for.

“ _Alright then, I’ll have to do this. Do your worst, imperial scums._ ”

Taking the ultimate decision, he stood up, absorbing the life essences of the fallen imperials in front of him. The imperials who were still alive were completely shocked by the sight, _what the hell just happened?_ Order broke down as several soldiers reluctantly charged towards this _monster_ , while the rest held back, terrified by the sight. The moment those imperials who charged got close to him, they were cut down instantly, this cadet barely even moved as he effortlessly cut down those who dared to oppose him, it was a truly horrifying sight to behold.

“Glory to the Empire!” one of the imperials shouted, rallying his comrades as they finally charged together as one towards this cadet, who was still stoned at his place. For several moments, they finally managed to make this cadet move out of his spot, but it was in vain, all they did were feeding this monster as he kept on absorbing the life essences of their fallen comrades, miraculously granting him infinite strength and powerful magic. After several minutes of brutal fighting, the dust finally settled, and all that was left standing was this monster, fully bloodied, his light blue cape turned into vermillion red, he couldn’t even tell it was his blood or his enemies. The moment he regained his full consciousness, the only thing inside his head was his friends.


	2. Enter the Class First II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last day of 841 R.G. finally arrived, and as per usual, Akademeia would hold a new year festival. The Cadets surely will enjoy their times, as it will be rare for them to be having fun like this.

**Cae. XXXI 841 R.G.**

The last day of the vacation had arrived, soon, they would be returning to their normal student lives on the second day of Ignismens. The dorm hall was filled with cadets walking back and forth as they were returning from their vacations. When they were finished with their rooms, they were looking for their friends next, it must’ve been awhile since these cadets saw each other. As it was the last day of 841 R.G., several preparations were made to celebrate the new year; fireworks, food stands, games, and much more festival stuff. This particular event, was managed and prepared by the best Akademeia Agito cadets, hailing from Class First. The head committee, Ryo Takatsugi, was overseeing the event from afar as his fellow classmates were busy with their own things.

“The fireworks seem to be fine and there’s no problem in the stands. Now, about the dance party… you took care of that right?”

“Everything’s A-OK, and yes, the cards are evenly distributed.”

Ryo smirked. “Ah, that. I wonder who’ll be dancing with me. What about you, Reon?”

“Well… about that. It doesn’t matter who it will be as long it’s a pretty girl.”

He was lying, though. He was expecting one particular cadet to be paired with him.

Ryo frowned. “Pretty girl? I thought you wanted to—”

“Nope,” he interrupted.

Meanwhile in the food stands, everything seemed to be fine that the committees were allowed to enjoy the festival as well. Sadao Miyato was enjoying Class Seventh’s crepes with his girlfriend, Ichika Akiharu. Several cadets walked past by and teased them to get a room as they were apparently so lost in their own worlds that they disregarded their surroundings.

Their fellow classmate, Shinji Kimari comforted them. “Don’t listen to them, you’re both cute together.”

Sadao sighed a breath of relief. “Thanks, Shin. You know you’re—”

“You don’t have to get a room,” –Shinji started to chuckle— “just get married instead!”

Ichika narrowed her eyes. “Not another word, Shinji.”

Class First, the top class of Akademeia, they were still sent on the battlefield to aid the Dominion on their war efforts, as per usual. The peace treaty of 837 R.G. was nothing more than a “delay for the inevitable” as Milites breached the peace treaty unannounced and skirmishes started to happen in the shared Rubrum-Milites border at Meroe. Even though they were at war, the Class First cadets seemed to be calm and collected as they enjoyed the festival, nothing could stop these young cadets to have fun in their time outside the cold, harsh, and unpredictable battlefield.

Within each moment spent, so did the time as the last night of the year 841 finally arrived. Everyone was called to the main hall where the dance party would be held. The participants started to scramble around the hall, trying to find their dance partners. Reon Kurayami anxiously walked around trying to find his match. As said earlier, he was hoping to be paired with a certain someone, but it was a “one in two hundred” chance, it wasn’t very likely for him to be paired with her. He tried to match his card with his fellow classmate, Katana Fujiwara, and it turned out to be a match, he wouldn’t be dancing with the one he wanted after all.

She said, grinning, “Don’t be upset, dude. At least we’ll dance again like the old times.”

“Well, at least I’ll be dancing with Class First’s ultimate beauty.”

“Flattery will not get you anywhere, my friend,” she said, giving him a stern look, but blushing a little.

Katana was indeed Class First’s true beauty, lots of cadets from other classes tried to hit on her, but the fact that she was a Class First cadet made it harder for them to gather the courage to approach her. Nobody knew what was her actual first name, “Katana” was actually a nickname she picked the moment she enrolled on Akademeia.

The bell rung, indicating the dance party was about to start. The honor of dancing with Reon’s certain someone goes to Ichiro Kusabi, he actually knew that Reon wanted to dance with her, and thus, he had a plan to ensure that he did.

Ichiro’s partner noticed the uneasiness within him that she asked him what seemed to be bothering him.

“Actually, I was hoping to be paired with my classmate, Katana, today.”

“Ah, Class First’s beauty.” She glanced towards the one he mentioned. “I understand, what do you want me to do?”

“Do you mind if we switch partners with them?”

“Not at all. Let’s get closer towards them.”

They danced slowly, at the same time getting closer with Reon and Katana. The moment Katana noticed that Ichiro was getting closer, she knew what he was up to. Then, in one quick motion, Katana released her hand from Reon and took Ichiro’s hand. Giving Reon a short glance, the two winked at him, this made him smiling slightly.

“Oh it’s you.” Reon’s new partner knew him, as they were already friends for a long time.

“Hello, Rep. What are you up to?”

“Helping your friend. He wanted to dance with your class’ beauty.”

Reon nodded in approval. “That’s very kind of you. Well, shall we dance then?”

“After you, Reon.”

They then danced for several minutes, following the rhythm of the music, Reon started to up his game, showing off his dancing skills. Deep inside, the Representative, Miyu Kagirohi was thoroughly impressed by him. Reon could only hope the dance would last a little longer, but, as the music’s rhythm started to slow, the music faded slowly, ending the dance. Even though the dance lasted around half an hour, Reon felt like he danced for hours, he felt as if his heart stopped beating for a split second every time his face was merely an inch apart from her face.

“ _She’s a beauty._ ” This is the word he mumbled as he glanced towards Miyu’s face, what was this feeling that he felt inside him? He was interested in her during his trainee days, but all that feeling slowly faded away when he ultimately became a cadet. He didn’t become a Class First cadet in a day after he graduated from the trainee class, but rather worked his way up there. It had always been his dream to become a Class First cadet, that was why he put all his efforts into that matter, slowly having his feelings with her fading in the process. But now that he succeeded on becoming a Class First cadet, after all these years, those feelings could’ve and should’ve resurfaced, somehow.

With the dance party over, everyone started to head back towards their dorms after a tiring day. As for Reon, he went to the terrace to grab some fresh air, he was really nervous on that dance even though he was able to dance amazingly. To his surprise, the lovebirds, Sadao and Ichika were there. Not far from the lovebirds, Katana was currently enjoying the calm midnight winds as well, even though she was a popular girl in the academy, she preferred to spend most of her time relaxing alone. Obviously, Reon didn’t want to bother the lovebirds, and thus, he joined Katana instead. She gave him a smile as he joined her.

“Congrats.”

“For what?”

Katana smiled innocently. “You know what.”

“Ah, that. It’s thanks to you and Ichiro, though.”

“You know, we rarely talked alone like this.” She stared towards him. “Now that I got the chance, I want to ask you something.”

“Really? ‘Firaga’ away then.”

She chuckled, “Nice.”

There was something bothering Katana’s mind ever since she saw Miyu’s blue ribbon, she seemed to be familiar with it, so familiar that she thought that she was the one who made it. She knew that it was Reon who gave Miyu the ribbon, but if it was indeed Katana’s ribbon, how did Reon got his hands on it?

“It was four or five years ago. Dr. Arecia gave it to me.”

“Funny. I don’t remember giving it to her.”

“Well, do you want me to ask Mo—, I mean Dr. Arecia about it?”

Katana looked surprsed. “No, my word, no. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be asking you about this.”

She didn’t want to make things awkward, and thus, Katana went back on their topic about the dance party. Katana recalled that Ichiro nearly kissed her after they switched partners with Reon. He grinned, Ichiro must’ve wanted to dance with Katana after all, he always thought that crushing on a fellow classmate was a lame thing to do, but he did appreciate their feelings, as it was their choice and not his.

“You know. I have one more story,” Sadao said, suddenly joining them.

Katana was surprised. “Eh?! When did you two join in?”

“Must be about that Class Twelfth’s Tohno.” Ichika said, looking away.

“What about her?”

Tohno Mahoroha, she was Reon’s fellow trainee on the past, he was interested on how she was doing until now. Due to her introvert nature, Tohno did not have much friends aside from her old friends, including Reon, Miyu, and some others. In truth, she was a kind person deep inside if one tried to talk or approach her. Sadao said that he saw Tohno dancing with Shinji, and he admitted that Tohno was a good dancer, considering her personality.

“Don’t judge the cover by its book, Sadao, my dear boy,” Ichika said, half joking, the saying was actually reversed.

“Well I guess you’re right, my dear, Ichika.”

Sadao then held her hands, they were smiling towards each other.

Both Reon and Katana rolled their eyes. “Get a room, you two.”

Feeling annoyed, they had enough, they left them to be alone. They were starting to get sleepy anyways, and thus, headed back to their dorms. On the crossroad, they part ways as their dorms were Orience apart from each other.

Upon entering his dorm, Reon could feel that the happiness inside him after that dance still lingered, he ended up falling asleep with a smile on his face.


	3. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the new year festival concluded, the cadets would soon find themselves in the battlefield once again, what repercussions await these cadets as they approached an unusual situation?

**Ign. II 842 R.G.**

It wasn’t even a week passed by as Miyu, Ryo, and several class representatives were summoned to the Central Command in a sudden during their lecture sessions. Being summoned this sudden, they already knew what was coming ahead of them. While the others seemingly anxious, Miyu and Ryo were the only ones who were able to keep their composure the moment they stepped foot on the Central Command.

They took their seats as they were joined by the Commandant, the Cadetmaster, and the Class First CO, Kurasame Susaya. As expected, they brought news about the skirmish between Rubrum and Milites at Meroe. The war had raged on even further ever since Milites breaching the peace treaty that was signed 5 years back. What were they thinking? Them breaching the treaty would mean that they would be facing three nations instead of one, they had to be planning something else to be pulling a stunt such as that.

Ryo raised his hand. “So, are we going to aid the Legion to Meroe?”

They weren’t. There was an intel regarding Milites that they had been sneaking a large army from the sea, planning to launch a surprise attack towards the Akademeia Peristylium. Milites wasn’t aware just yet that Rubrum was aware of their plan, and thus, Rubrum had to act quickly before this surprise army reached Akademeia. Intel suggested that 200 strong advance party camped just outside Rubrum region to launch their attack, intending to secure foothold in Rubrum Region, this would allow the main force to assault them both from the mainland and from the sea.

“What are our orders?” Miyu asked.

“You will hold operational command alongside your fellow Class Second cadets on the Class First cadets, Miss Miyu.”

Ryo raised his hand once again. “How many of us will be sent and when do we start?”

“I want 7 Class First cadets on this mission. Your marching orders will be issued on 0000 hours and you must return by 0500 hours.”

“You expect us to wipe them all out with 7 cadets and in five hours, Cadetmaster?” Ryo’s face indicated his seriousness.

Their mission was not to wipe them all out, but rather to reduce their capability on fighting by sabotaging their MA’s, assassinating several important personnel, and whatnot.

Ryo continued, “Wait, I get it. Smaller number means larger element of surprise.”

“That’s correct, Cadet Takatsugi, and your CO already approved this.”

Kurasame nodded. “Indeed. Now, any questions?”

Nobody had a question as everything seemed to be clear.

With the details of the mission clear, Ryo hurried back to his classroom, the lecture had ended with only 10 cadets remained in the class, waiting for him to come back to deliver the news from the Central Command. To Ryo’s favor, the 6 cadets he wanted to participate actually remained in the class. Without delay, he informed them their marching orders and the details of the mission.

Ichiro said, “I like it. Sneaky kills, walking in the shadows, and all.”

“Right. You’ll be under my command and there will be no splitting. We’ll stick together until the end of the mission.”

“Operational command?”

“As usual, it’s your beloved.”

“Ah, yes! It will be Reon’s deary lovely Miyu Kagirohi.”

“Shut up, Sadao. Either way, should we get some rest or should we train a little?”

Ichika raised her hand. “A little bit of both helps, I suppose.”

Ryo decided to take on Ichika’s advice, they would train and get some rest just before their marching orders.

As dusk arrived, the 7 Class First cadets trained relentlessly, showing no hint of fear and anxiety whatsoever on what’s to come. For centuries, every generation of Class First cadets always lived up to their expectations, but these 7 cadets were on another level, they were the seniors after all. The 20 years old Ryo was the oldest amongst them, while the 18 years old Ichika was the youngest amongst them, but in the end, age didn’t matter at all as they were amazingly on the same level.

Time went by so fast that midnight arrived and Class First’s marching orders were finally issued. The 7 cadets set out towards the front gates, their faces showed eagerness and their eyes showed the will to kill. Kurasame briefed them once again to ensure that everything goes as planned, he wouldn’t be participating, though. Kurasame, now 25 years old, weren’t allowed to go out on the field anymore as his magic had slowly diminished over time due to the Crystal’s blessing. With everything said, Ryo opened the front gates and marched slowly with his friends on swiftwind chocobos. They were on a stealth mission and their safety is a priority, they had to maintain the element of surprise at all costs.

As they reached the borders of Rubrum region, they caught a sight of bonfire just near the shores of Rubrum, the intel was indeed solid, the army was there, preparing their assault. Ryo’s eyes were sharp, he noticed that the army was smaller than he initially thought. Inside his mind, he knew that they could wipe out the entire battalion all by themselves.

“Alright, change of plan. Let’s split up and go all out.”

“Are you sure?” Reon whispered, “7 of us against a battalion?”

Ichiro sighed. “Their army is smaller than we thought and we could save the Dominion’s time by doing this.”

“Fine. How should we do this?”

Ryo split the team in two. He would assault the bonfire battalion while Reon and his team were tasked with finding the enemy commanders. Little did Ryo know, he was walking into a trap alongside his team, no one in their right minds would ignite a bonfire deep within an enemy territory. Someone was already watching them from afar, even though it was dark, this person was able to see them with his night vision device alongside his bodyguards.

He smirked terrifyingly. “Wait for it. They’re going straight into their graves.”

The bodyguards laughed.


	4. Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Class First cadets were walking into a trap, and still... they had no clue about it at all. They would soon face a great ambush, a fight for their lives, and someone could die just for it.

**Ign. III 842 R.G.**

Just as Ryo slowly approached the bonfire with Ichiro, Katana, and Ichika, he slightly noticed that something was wrong with the bonfire. From afar, he could see there was several soldiers sitting by the bonfire, but as he got closer, he realized that those soldiers… were actually dummies.

“Guys… defensive positions.”

Ichiro glared around his surroundings. “What’s going on?”

Almost instantly, a smoke grenade was thrown right where they stood, a white smoke enveloped them, limiting their view.

“WEAPONS FREE!” the Imperial commander shouted.

Hot lead rained down on their position, thankfully, Katana and Ichika were able to conjure a wall to block the incoming projectiles in the nick of time, saving them from a fatal hit.

“It’s a trap! What do we do?!” Ichika shouted.

“Call Reon’s team ASAP!”

Ichika was able to report to Reon and his team, and they acknowledged. They would soon come to their assist. Time is of the essence as the walls they conjured started to crumble and they wouldn’t have much strength to conjure another. After few seconds of sprinting through the darkness, Reon finally caught a glimpse where the bullets were coming from. Reacting with haste, he took Sadao with him and told Shinji to assist the pinned down Ryo’s team. Effortlessly, the sneaking duo were able to circle around them and surprise attack the enemy.

The Imperial commander calmly acknowledged of the danger lurking on their rearguard, he sent one of his captains to hold them at bay while his team continue to overwhelm Ryo’s team.

“Any special orders, Major Belfarre?” the captain asked.

“Don’t let them leave this place alive.”

“Leave it to us!”

Back at Ryo’s position, the walls eventually broke down and the battalion descended on his position.

“We can’t use the darkness here. They can see us with that green thing in their eyes.”

“All out then, lance-man?” Ichiro said, smirking.

“Yup, all out.”

Ryo used his signature move, the high jump, to confuse the attackers. Stomping the ground with his lance, several Empire soldiers were thrown in the air, and without delay, Ichiro followed up by throwing his ice imbued poleaxe towards the direction where the Imperials stood. The moment the poleaxe touched the ground, the soil around the axe turned into an icy field, giving the Empire soldiers hard time to move around. Following along the momentum, Katana conjured her weapon, jumping in the middle of the icy field as Ichiro recalled his poleaxe. Katana spectacularly cut her adversaries one by one as they struggled to move around the icy field.

Ichiro was shocked by the sight. “I think I’m in love!”

“I’m telling.”

“Ichika! Goodness! No!”

Katana actually heard it through her COMM. “I heard that, you know?”

“Wha—?!”

Within minutes, they wiped out the first wave of Imperials sent towards them. Blood covered their bodies, thankfully it wasn’t theirs. All the while they caught their breaths, Ichika hailed Reon to disengage and regroup. The moment Ichika turned her attention back to the battle, a deafening gunshot was suddenly heard from afar and before everyone’s eyes, she was down to the ground, she took a direct hit straight through her stomach, and her blood painted the soil red, there was no stopping it and Ryo and the others could only watch as she screamed in agony.

“Ichika’s down! She’s hit!”

Sadao was the first to react. “(On COMM) What?! Damn it! I’m coming!”

Sadao glided past the dead soldiers in front of him, neglecting the gunshots from the still standing Imperials, leaving Reon behind. He didn’t realize that Reon was surrounded and were unable to inform them as he dropped his COMM amidst the battle. Seconds later, Sadao reached Ichika, she was bleeding, heavily.

Tears started to pour from Sadao’s eyes. “Ichika, No! Don’t die, don’t die! Please!”

His cry of desperation echoed through the battlefield, striking through everyone who could hear his plea.

“My love… you’re here,” she said weakly, using what was left inside her, she gave him her knowing tag, putting it inside his palm and closed her eyes, she was dying, and there was nothing that Sadao could do but hugging her tightly. Sadao finally lost the will to fight as he continued to cry.

“It’s cold… Sadao… where are you?”

“I-I’m here! Ichika, please! Hold on!”

Her body was getting cold, even though Sadao hugged her tightly between his arms, it was no use, he even tried to stop the bleeding, but it was no use as well, not only the soil painted red with her blood, her blood now painted Sadao’s hands, uniform, and face red as well. The Imperials nearby noticed the two vulnerable cadets in front of them, and started to focus their thrust towards them instead. Thankfully, Ryo, Ichiro, and Katana dived to their rescue and conjured another set of wall surrounding the two. More Imperials descended on their position, this time led by Major Quintus Belfarre, he was the one who shot Ichika while she let her guard down. Ichiro maintained the wall as Ryo, Shinji, and Katana surged towards the Major and his reinforcements.

Shinji noticed Sadao still stoned in his spot and shouted, “Get back in the fight, man! We need you!”

He didn’t respond at all, he was still crying, as if he would be stuck crying forever.

Major Quintus knew how to fight Rubran cadets, he actually brought the veterans of the past war with him. But it had a little effect, as they still dropped like flies, charging blindly but valiantly towards Ryo, Shinji, and Katana, who effortlessly cut them down one by one. Even so, there was just too many of them, and Ryo knew this, but he would fight to the end, as there was no going back anyway. Imbuing his lance with fire, he executed his signature maneuver once again, this time, the ground turned into a firewall, enveloping those who were unlucky enough to be there. Using the firewall, Katana and Shinji sliced through it, essentially enchanting their weapons with fire. The sight was just so terrifying for the Imperials, they weren’t facing humans, but super humans. Ryo was a genius to conjure the firewall, it enabled them to at least see where their enemies were coming from.

From the backline, Major Quintus reloaded his sniper rifle once again.

“This time, I’ll let you live for a while.”

Taking a deep breath, he aimed towards Katana’s legs, who was still fighting the Imperials. Giving a signal through the radio, his soldiers suddenly opened a gap in their lines, allowing Quintus to take a clear shot. The deafening sound of his rifle echoed once again through the field, and before everyone’s eyes, Katana slumped to the ground, blood poured out of her legs as she screamed in agony.

“Bullseye!” Quintus shouted.

Ichiro saw it from afar and hurried to her aid, driven with love, he conjured another set of wall surrounding Katana. Picking up her Nodachi, Ichiro’s ambidextrous hands firmly gripped both of the weapons, and charged towards the advancing Imperials, he took several hits in the process, but his bloodlust… was just too great that he ignored it, he managed to take out nearly ten soldiers within seconds.

“This one’s dangerous, better take him out quick,” Quintus mumbled. Taking another deep breath, he aimed his rifle towards Ichiro’s chest, intending to kill him swiftly. Repeating the same process, he signaled his troops to open the gap in the line, and before Ichiro could react, Quintus took the shot. As the deafening sound of his rifle faded, Ichiro fell to the ground, just beside Katana. With Katana’s fading strength, she crawled towards him.

“Ichiro… I’m sorry, I had no clue that you loved—”

He coughed up a lot of blood. “That’s okay. Anyway… I still have no clue on what your real first name is,” he said, smiling sadly. Dying, he took one last deep breath, and closed his eyes… for the last time. Before Katana could even be sad about it, she already lost her memory of this boy.

Noticing her own tears, she mumbled, “Why am I… crying?” With her vision blurred, she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Shinji noticed the two laying down on the ground and tried to drag them to safety, but just as he nearly made it through, Quintus took the shot, once again, hitting Shinji right through his heart, it was a fatal hit, Shinji didn’t even have the chance to dodge as Quintus was just too quick and too dangerous, he died within seconds the moment he touched the ground, face first.

Ryo’s state of mind bothered even further as he noticed that Sadao was still kneeling beside Ichika, he angrily shouted at him to get back on the battle, but Sadao was still nowhere near on thinking to throw himself back to the fray, he was just still stoned right where he kneeled, he had lost the will to fight as he helplessly waited for the Crystal to erase his memories of Ichika, who just passed away seconds earlier, Sadao miraculously resisted the Crystal’s blessing, being able to remember her a little longer than the others.

With more soldiers pouring out of the darkness, Ryo was getting surrounded even further. With the overwhelming onslaught of the Imperials, Ryo’s strength began to crumble, he opened up his guard and allowed one of the soldiers to stab him from the back. He fell to the ground, badly bloodied, the soldier actually managed to hit him in his vitals. Finally realizing that he only had seconds to live, Ryo played dead, expecting several soldiers to get close to him. Using only his senses, he waited until the sound of their boots were close enough, and then… in a flash, he stood up and stomped the ground with his lance, creating a shockwave that threw many soldiers into the air.

“Shouldn’t have approached a dead man,” said Ryo, who immediately jumped quickly to pursue them mid-air, he slashed through multiple soldiers in the air, one by one. It was almost as if time stopped as he was in the air, allowing him to cut down literally 17 soldiers in the air, defying the laws of nature in the process.

“Any second now…” Quintus mumbled once again, waiting for Ryo to finish his bloodlust, just as Ryo reached the ground, Quintus aimed his rifle towards his vitals. Ryo was just stoned where he stood, glancing towards Quintus’ direction, he dropped his lance and extended his arms… he was… waiting for Quintus to take the shot. This, incited fear inside Quintus’ mind.

“TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT, IMPERIAL SCUM!”

“ _What is he doing? How did he know where I stand?_ ”

Ryo indeed knew where Quintus was standing, his sharp eyes were in play yet again. Trembling with fear, Quintus took the shot straight towards Ryo’s heart, and he fell to the ground face first, if not for Quintus’ excellent marksmanship, he would miss his target due to him trembling in fear. With his hands sweating, Quintus dropped his rifle, he was really terrified by this young cadet’s bravery. With the leader figure of Class First apparently dead, the battle was over… or was it?

One of his subordinate tapped him in the shoulders, shocking him very much. “I’m sorry, Major, I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“No, it’s fine. What is it?”

“We captured one of them. He was… not fighting, what do you want me to do?”

Quintus nodded. “We don’t kill the surrendering ones. Bring him to me.”

“He actually didn’t surrender, Major. We don’t know what was on his mind.”

The soldier then brought him the survivor, it was none other than Sadao.

“Name?”

Sadao responded, rudely, by spitting right on his boots. “I have nothing to say for savages such as you.”

Quintus took his sidearm and shot Sadao in his shoulder. “Answer... the question!”

Quintus’ subordinates were shocked by his attitude, he was never like this on the battlefield, as he was always calm and collected. But today, he seemed… different. Furthermore, Sadao didn’t seem to react, even though he was shot in his shoulder, he just laughed straight to his face. He was never being mocked like this before.

Holstering back his sidearm, Quintus folded his hands. “I think you’ll love talking with my daughter.” Quintus finally threw in the towel, motioning towards his 2nd in command, the latter hit Sadao in the head with the hilt of his sword, essentially knocking him out. Bringing him to Ines seemed to be the last resort to make him talk, he needed to know how did Rubrum knew the Imperials were secretly marching an army towards Rubrum region.

Just as they started to drag Sadao back to their encampment, Quintus saw the captain he sent before crawling towards him, bloodied, leaving a trail of blood from where he crawled. Albeit weakly, the captain used the last of his strength to inform the Major that their rearguard was **obliterated** , just as he finished his sentence, he fell unconscious, he could be dead for all they knew.

“Impossible! Our rearguard has been obliterated?!”

Quintus frowned. “I count 5 downed cadets plus this one… this means… no… how could one cadet single-handedly wiped out our 100-strong rearguard?!”

Suddenly, a brief blinding light flashed from the tree line right in front of them, and then, Quintus’ 2nd in command suddenly fell to the ground, he was shot dead in the head with one of their own rifles from someone in the darkness. Hastily, Quintus and his remaining 50 strong elite troops put back their night vision on. They finally caught the sight of a lone figure in the darkness, wielding a longsword etched with ancient Orience inscriptions, the blade itself was imbued with fire magic enveloped in purplish aura, it was none other than… Reon.

Reon was actually analyzing the battleground as he silently watched them from afar, he finally knew how to fight them by noticing a weakness within the night vision device the Imperials used. The moment they started to surge towards him, Reon burned the grasses right in front of their eyes, and he got the expected result as the Imperials helplessly covered their eyes. Reon was indeed a genius, the burning grass started a chain reaction, creating a large flame that rendered the Imperials’ night vision useless as it was becoming too bright for them to see.

Like a flash of thunder, Reon surged towards Quintus, he noticed the man’s different uniform than the others, he aimed to broke the Imperials’ order by taking him out.

“ _Rules of war my ass. You’ll all die a gruesome death, Imperial hounds._ ”

With Quintus’ eyes still blinded, he didn’t have time to react when Reon was already in front of him, his face… was fully covered in blood.

“Die, Imperial scum.” That was what Quintus heard before Reon stabbed him with his weapon. Seeing Reon all covered in blood, the Imperials started to tremble in fear, their past experiences in many battles meant nothing as they started to run back towards their camp after seeing Quintus fell down to the ground, they were right to be afraid as they just witnessed him doing something terrifying, he absorbed the phantomas of the fallen right in front of their eyes.

“W-what is he?!” One of the soldiers shouted in fear. Before his eyes, Reon glided past him and stabbed him in the back, killing him instantly.

With their night vision off, they ran blindly towards each other, some of them stumbled upon each other. Those who were unlucky and not fast enough to stand up got themselves killed instantly, as Reon mercilessly slashed through every living being in front of him. Quintus was still alive, but his vision was too blurred due to his injuries, he could only helplessly watch as his soldiers getting massacred single-handedly by the monster in front of him. Within seconds, Quintus suddenly couldn’t even recall who were he fighting with, all of his elite veterans… were dead.

As his vision started to recover, he could see a pair of boots in front of him and an ancient looking sword beside him. As he glanced up, he could see that Reon’s uniform was covered in red, even his light blue cape turned into a vermillion red cape, did he just turned into a _Class Zero_ cadet by accident?

Coughing a lot of blood, Quintus miraculously stood up and tapped Reon on his shoulders. “You kids aimed to become Agito, aren’t you?” he said, chuckling, “But look at what you’ve done. You’re nothing more than a monster. You’ll never be—”

Not giving Quintus time to finish his sentence, Reon slashed Quintus’ throat, as Quintus choked for air, he stabbed him in his legs, forcing him on to kneel. With blood pouring from his neck, Quintus still managed to give him one last laugh before Reon finished him by stabbing him in the heart. Major Quintus Belfarre, was no more than a corpse laying in the ground beside his slain men who were once veterans of the past wars.

The field turned silent, and all Reon could hear was the howling wind of that night. In a shocking revelation, this young man turned out to possess the ability to absorb the phantomas of those he felled, who was this man? When did he realize he could do so? Did his friends know about it? There was so many questions regarding him. But there were no witnesses that day, and thus, his secret remained in the dark.

“ _What have I done?_ ” said Reon in a whispering tone, he couldn’t explain to himself how he survived the onslaught. No ordinary human could massacre literally a hundred of soldiers, veteran soldiers to be precise, all by themselves. Just as he walked nearby some burning grasses, it was finally visible that his eyes were darker than usual, he had light brown eyes, and just as he walked near the flames, his eyes were pitch black. The moment his eyes returned normal, so did the look on his face, he was confused on what to do next.

He wandered through the battlefield in search for survivors, he remembered that he set out with 6 of his friends earlier, but he could only remember three of them.

“ _Ryo_ … _Katana… Sadao… I remember them, they must be still alive!_ ”

Further searching around the field, he finally found the unconscious Sadao beside several dead Imperials. Using the last ounces of his strength, he lifted Sadao up to his shoulders, carrying him as he continued his search for Katana, who was apparently still alive. He finally found her, still unconscious beside their fallen classmates. Miraculously, Reon mounted Katana above Sadao, he was literally carrying two of his wounded classmates on his shoulders. Searching around for several more minutes, he was unable to find Ryo. Sadao and Katana were both dying and he had to return to Akademeia with haste. With regret, he left Ryo behind and those who he couldn’t remember anymore as he prioritized the living.

It was still 0400 hours as Reon walked slowly towards Akademeia. In a sudden, he found a pack of chocobos that he rode alongside his classmates before the battle. Changing his mind, he mounted his unconscious friends on the chocobos and whispered to their ears “ _Stay… I will be back._ ”

Magically, the chocobos complied and stayed on their tracks. Reon then mounted one of the chocobos and went back to the field to retrieve his fallen friends. For an hour, he went back and forth, bringing one cadet at a time. After one last return trip, he finally found Ryo, laying on the ground not that far out from the _Imperial Commander_ he slain earlier. Strangely, Reon still remembered Ryo, meaning the latter was still alive, he rushed to him and turned his body around.

Miraculously, Ryo opened his eyes. “Ah, Reon…” –he coughed a lot of blood to Reon’s dismay— “listen, you wasted your time coming here. I’m done… for.”

“Don’t say that! You’re Class First’s leader! We will be blind without you! So, please… hang on!”

Another miracle happened as Ryo managed to gather what was left of him to stand up.

“Reon, my friend,” –he tapped him on the shoulders— “you’re a strong man, I saw what you did to those Imperial scums who took our friends away.”

“Stop it, Ryo! You speak as if you’re about to die.” Reon’s eyes started to pour with tears.

“You are the hero that everyone needs, and you must live.”

Ryo then untied his armband, it was not an ordinary armband as it was the insignia of the leader of Class First. He then tied it to Reon’s left arm, and fell to the ground once again.

Reon tried to break his fall, but it was to no avail. “Come on, dude! Stop playing around!”

“One more thing, Reon.” His voice was getting weaker, but he managed to deliver him a last humor, “Stop being a play hard and get that Miyu girl to like you,”

And then, Ryo breathed his last breath and closed his eyes, before Reon could realize it, he couldn’t even tell why he was crying. He mounted Ryo up on his shoulders and make one last trip back to the chocobos.

After he mounted everyone on the chocobos, he closed his eyes and whispered to the chocobos, “ _Follow me and don’t let them fall, my friends._ ”

The sun rose as Reon reached the main gates of Akademeia, the Legionary who was in charge of the front gates was shocked with the sight as Reon was the only one who was conscious, several Legionaries sprinted to aid him to dismount everyone from the chocobos. Just as Reon dismounted from his chocobo, his vision started to blur, his breath was getting shallower and shallower to the point where he couldn’t breathe, resulting in him eventually fainting helplessly.

From the fountain plaza, Kurasame sprinted towards the front gates and found Reon leaning towards the wall, unconscious.

“Bring them to the infirmary, stat!” Kurasame shouted towards the Legionaries.

The Legionaries then brought everyone towards the infirmary, they had no idea who were still alive, and thus, they brought everyone there. After the doctors arrived, they finally discovered that only Reon, Katana, and Sadao who were still among the living, and thus, the dead… were separated from them.


	5. Light of the Living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reon, Katana, and Sadao survived the disaster, but it costed them dearly. Even though they would never remember their fallen friends, but still, a hole had just been made in their hearts, and they surely felt it.

**Ign. III 842 R.G.**

Hours later, the young man finally came back to his senses, screaming, he was probably having a bad dream while he was unconscious. Seeing him woke up, everyone rushed to him to ensure he was fine. After taking a drink, he was finally able to calm himself down. With his eyes glaring towards the cadets beside him, he was relieved that he was still able to remember Sadao and Katana, even though they were still unconscious. Kurasame was standing beside his bed after Reon finally could sit normally.

“You had us worried. We couldn’t contact you when you’re one hour into the mission.”

“My apologies, Commander. Frankly, I don’t remember much from the battle.”

“I see.” Kurasame sighed. “By the way, Miss Miyu visited you earlier, she spent around an hour waiting for you to be awake.”

He remained silent and suddenly, he heard something inside his head, mumbling, “ _Stop being such a play hard, and get that—_ ”

He couldn’t recall when did he heard those words before nor the continuation of what that voice actually said.

“Get some rest. You’ll be needed in the Central Command tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”

“Yes, Commander, the first thing in the morning.”

The next day, Reon woke up, this time finally fully recovered from the wounds he suffered. It was still morning and it was really cold that day as it was still winter season. Glancing beside his bed, he was relieved that Katana was still there, sleeping, but then, he realized that something was missing. Moments later, Miyu arrived to the infirmary to remind Reon to head to the Central Command as soon as possible, they wouldn’t want him to miss the debrief as it was very important and Reon had to attend his lectures not long after that.

“I will be there soon.”

She nodded. “Good. Anyway, I’m glad you’re fine, Reon.”

“Thank you… Mi—, Representative.”

She gave him a smile and headed back to the Central Command ahead of him.

After wearing his recently cleaned uniform and cape, Reon headed to the Central Command. The moment he entered the room, everyone stared blankly at him, the cadets who were there started whispering things that he couldn’t hear, they were wondering how could this man walked into this room like nothing ever happened the other day before. Taking his seat, Reon gave them a nod, signifying his readiness for the debrief. Kurasame stood up first, from his palms, he presented him 4 knowing tags belonging to the fallen Class First cadets.

“Their names are Ryo, Ichika, Ichiro, and Shinji. Rubrum thanked you for your efforts in bringing them home, Cadet Kurayami.”

Reon still remained silent, as there was still something missing and he couldn’t place it.

“I know that look.” Kurasame continued, he then took one more knowing tag out of his pocket. “This belonged to Cadet Sadao, he was still alive when you brought him back. He sadly passed away last night due to his severe wounds.”

Reon finally opened up, he couldn’t even be sad about it, because Sadao did not exist anymore in his mind, all thanks to the Crystal’s blessing. In truth, Sadao actually didn’t suffer severe wounds when he was captured by the Imperials. He suffered those when he was caught in the crossfire between the Imperials and the enraged Reon during the battle. Was it a friendly fire? Nobody would ever know for sure as it was chaotic back there.

Moving on to their next topic, Miyu took over the discussion and informed them that due to Empire’s plan being screwed up, the Empire decided to pull back their secret regiment back to their lands. They had no means of assaulting Akademeia without the advance party securing the foothold in Rubrum region. This secret regiment was said to be led by Brigadier General Qator Bashtar. Furthermore, a Legionary scout reported that there was a sighting of Milites’ Secundus l’Cie Qun’mi Tru’e during their retreat back to their lands. The Empire must’ve been planning to use her during the invasion, but her role on the invasion was still unknown. Whatever their plan was, Rubrum should be glad that the Empire didn’t get the chance to use her, thanks to Class First’s heroic efforts... efforts that were better said as Class First’s “ **sacrifice** ”. Last but not least, Class First would receive 10 new cadets that day, replacing their fallen ones. The demoralized Reon had a mixed feeling between excited and upset, on one hand, he was glad to receive new and fresh elite classmates, and on the other, even though he could no longer remember his late friends, he was upset that his fallen friends were replaced, just like that.

Later that dusk, Reon headed towards the terrace, joining Miyu who was there really often to enjoy the sunset. Bringing the topic of his fallen friends, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Class First was nothing more than machines of war.

“When we die, the Dominion only had to replace us… like a spare part of a machine.”

Sharing his sorrow, she patted him on the shoulders. “We all have our roles, Reon. I never stepped on a real battlefield, so I can’t say much about it.”

“Right… but, it’s just sad, you know?”

“I understand. You just have to move forward, Reon. You can’t be an elite cadet if you’re shackled to the past, that’s why the Crystal erased our memories of the dead.”

Showing a hint of smile, Reon finally found a light in his dark times. He couldn’t even explain why that every time he talked with Miyu, whatever his burden would be, it seemed to be lifted easily just like that as if it was nothing at all. He knew that it wasn’t his feelings towards her, but rather something more than that. Miyu possessed a unique talent when it comes to peoples in distress, her magic words and auras alone were always more than enough to drag them out of their problems.

Words came through his mind, “ _Did I just fell in love with this girl?_ ”

“Reon? Are you okay?” asked Miyu, noticing him going silent all of the sudden.

“No, I’m sorry… I’m just tired, that’s all,” he said, trying to keep his cool, “I guess that’s my cue to leave then, see you soon, Representative.”

“Very well, have a good rest, Reon.”

As he left, Miyu mumbled, “ _What’s the matter with him?_ ”

For the next couple of weeks, Class First relentlessly assisted Rubrum in defending Meroe Region, with Reon appointed as their new class leader. They were indeed a game changer as Rubrum somehow managed to hold the Empire at bay, all the while the Loricans and the Concordians were still gearing up for the war, they wouldn’t be ready for at least a month and Rubrum had to fight with all they had for the time being. Katana also participated in all of their battles, unburdened with the bitter event she just experienced not long ago, she kept on making great impressions in the battle with her skills in battle. She even managed to get along quite well with her new classmates that she seemed to be friends with them at that point.

One day, after a battle, Katana sat together with Reon on the legionary camp of Meroe.

“You haven’t lost your touch. That’s good to know.”

She smirked. “It’s nothing. It’s because I’m better than you’ll ever be.”

“In your dreams, girl.”

Suddenly, she brought the topic of their disaster a week before, she knew it would be hard for him, but she just had to know that one thing she always wondered, how did they survive against all odds? What did he do back there on the skirmish? Reon was reluctant on telling her the story, as it was riddled with secrets.

“Come on, Reon, everyone back on Akademeia frequently talked about it. I just can’t help my curiosity.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “But I’ll only tell you the important details.”

He told her the story on how he was able to massacre through 100 soldiers all by himself, including Major Belfarre’s most elite 50 soldiers. Of course, he didn’t mention phantoma, but rather said that he went on a rampage, claiming that he could enter that state when he was in verge of death or in a state of pressure. He added that he honestly thought that he didn’t remember much about the battle as he felt as if he “wasn’t himself” back there. Katana was pleased that he finally shared his experience during that disaster, but deep inside, she knew that he was hiding something.

She frowned. “That’s scary. I’m glad I didn’t see that one.”

“Yup, because then you’ll know I’m so much better than you,” he joked.

“Whatever you say, class leader.”

Deep inside, both of them were actually grateful that fate still allowed them to see daylight.

Another week full of battles passed by, even though Rubrum kept the Empire at bay at first, they suddenly started to lose their territories gradually, and within a month, the regions of Meroe and Iscah eventually fell to the Empire and they were being pushed back towards Togoreth region. With this momentum, Milites threw everything they had for their war efforts. Seeing the Legion finally holed up in their great Togoreth Stronghold, the Empire planned to use their trump card right at this moment.

At Ingram, Marshall Cid was overlooking the city from his office when he was suddenly joined by his surrogate son, Lean Hampelmann.

“Father, the preparation is complete.”

Cid turned his attention towards him. “Very good, son. This time, you will be the one who raises our flag on Togoreth Stronghold after we secured our victory.”

“Yes, father. If we win, please… don’t use the Ultima Weapon.”

“No promises, my good son. Even though we’ll win this war, we have to ensure our domination of all Orience.”

Lean seemed upset. “But, father… it’s a war crime, us deploying both of our l’Cie was already bad enough!”

“I’ll think about it when it’s all over.” Cid actually didn’t need to think about it, he was a stubborn man, there was nothing that could be done to steer him off his plan, and Lean knew this. Lean also was a stubborn man himself, he believed that he could somehow stop him from using the Ultima Weapon, a bio-weapon that was said to be worse than Ultima Bomb itself in the past.


	6. Dear Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rubrum was standing on its last legs as both the army and the cadets were holed up in Togoreth Stronghold. With this, the cadets were given a short time to enjoy everything back on Akademeia, as there was no guarantee that they would leave the battlefield alive later on.

** Aqu. XXVI 842 R.G. **

Rubrum was standing on their last line of defense, knowing this, Tsurugi gave Class First a short leave to attend their duties back on Akademeia and ordered to return to the stronghold as soon as possible by the end of the month. Katana used her free times to socialize with her friends, after being a person who loved being alone for years, she finally opened up to others, even Katana herself didn’t know what had driven her to become like that. Reon used most of his free time to visit the cemetery, nobody knew what was on his mind. Ever since the day he lost his classmates, he seemed to be questioning his own powers, as he did something terrible during the disaster. He already promised someone not to use “that” power as he was deemed a “failure” on something he took part in the past, but that “power” turned out to be a lifesaver for him.

On the very last day before he marched back to Togoreth, he was standing silently beside the **Blue Phoenix** flag in the cemetery, it was raining that day and he was the only one there. There was something in his mind, he imagined that by the end of that week, his name could be on the gravestone for all he knew. After paying his respects to his fallen friends, he visited the graves of the five traitors of Rubrum, all of them were former Class First cadets, and one of them… was close to Reon.

“ _I wish I’ve known more about you people. Because… I had a feeling I’ve known this… Ayane._ ”

Both Orience and Rubrum had been very cruel towards Reon. He should’ve remembered that Ayane was his sister, who sacrificed both her honor and life for the very lives of the peoples of Orience alongside her colleagues, years ago. Due to the true nature behind their motives, this poor young man was left clueless on who she was. If only Rubrum at least kept their last names, Reon would’ve probably known that Ayane was his sister.

Reon nearly spent a half an hour until someone felt Reon had been there for too long. She neglected the fact that it was raining and kept on walking towards him.

She tapped him on his shoulders. “You’ve been like this for a month now. Are you sure you don’t need someone to talk to?”

Reon was still stone silent.

“Reon, it hurts my feelings to be ignored.”

He finally glanced towards her, he couldn’t hurt her by ignoring her. “I’m sorry, Tohno.”

“Thank you. So, do you need someone to talk to?”

“I guess so. Let’s get out of the rain first, you could catch cold in here.”

It was a good decision to get out of the rain as the rain got heavier the moment they took shelter inside the peristylium. They decided to head into the Crystarium as Tohno had to finish her written test before they supposedly talking about Reon’s problems. Tohno was an intelligent person, but she still appreciated any help she could get. The subject Tohno worked on was about Orience’s topography and Reon was the perfect person to help her as he was often sent on the field, he had to be familiar with every corner of Orience by that time, contrary to Tohno who never went to a battle and rarely sent to the field.

They spent nearly half an hour working on her written test. After the task was done, Tohno breathed a sigh of relief, she revealed that this task was actually given a week ago and the deadline was only hours away on that day. Reon felt it was strange for her to do her task this late, she must’ve had something that kept her on finishing it on schedule. Staring into Tohno’s light brown eyes, he gathered the courage to ask her what had been bothering her these days.

“What’s this? I thought we’re here to talk about your problems.”

Reon shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I know you’re not feeling well, so just tell me.”

“Very well. You must’ve already heard that I can remember the dead, right?”

“I heard. Was that the thing that’s been bothering you?”

Tohno reluctantly revealed that two of Reon’s fallen classmates were actually their old friends back on their trainee days. She feared that Reon couldn’t move forward knowing that those fallen cadets were his friends. She was certain that Reon was able to “slightly” remember those who had fallen beside him on his missions, judging by Reon’s attitude few days past. Unsurprisingly, Reon actually couldn’t remember any of them at all, there was not a single thing he remembered from any of them, aside from something that was mumbling inside his head the moment he woke up on the infirmary after the disaster.

Filled with hesitation, he said, “I actually had doubts about you. I’m sorry, but I was thinking that you’re a crazy person back then…”

“Is that so? Do you want me to prove that I could indeed remember them?”

“No, but if you really can remember the dead… do you know if I had any siblings before?”

She did know, but there was a strict order from the top brasses for Reon’s old friends to never speak to him about his sister’s identity. This put Tohno in a dilemma, she wanted to tell him, but she feared two things could occur at the same time, the first was her disobeying the order from the top, the second thing she feared was Reon’s reaction, he was about to step his foot on the battlefield once again, he could’ve been wondering about it for years, and her telling him at that time could shatter his morale into nothing. Furthermore, Tohno was an honest person, she would be breaking that if she lied to him, but unfortunately, it was the best course of action.

“No. I’m sorry to bring you this, but you’re the only child on your family, and your parents died protecting the Consortium years ago. That’s all…”

“Is that so? Very well then, thank you, Tohno.”

“I’m sorry to talk about your parents again.”

Reon’s eyes widen. “N-no, it’s okay. I’m the one who’s asking you, by the way.”

“Right. Speaking of which, was that the thing that bothered you these days?”

“I’d rather not speak about it, got a big day ahead of me. I can’t compromise my will to fight tomorrow.”

Tohno nodded, the two then entered a round of silence, they didn’t have anything more to talk about. Tohno then noticed Reon’s scarred face, and before he even realized, her soft hands touched his scarred face, he could clearly feel Tohno’s warm touch as she ran through his wounds thoroughly with her hands. 

She blushed a little. “Oh, my apologies. Are you okay with this?”

“N-not at all, carry on.”

Tohno was a healer, she told him that there were several treatments available to ensure he never had to wake up with his scarred face anymore, but he rejected all of it outright, as he was inspired by his CO who also did the same, he believed that those wounds served as a reminder of what they did in their lives.

“We all have our views, Tohno, and this is my view.”

“I see.” –Tohno then started packing up her things— “Well then, I think I’ll have to submit my task now, Reon. I’m sorry we couldn’t talk about your problems today, but I promise that we’ll talk about it later.”

“Alright then. Thank you for wasting your time on this sad Class First boy,” he said, smiling.

Later that night, Reon wondered something, it was something about Tohno. The subject of Topography was never taught before to other classes beside Class First and Class Second. Out of the blue, it seemed that all classes started to receive lectures about that subject for an unknown reason. There was something else that he thought about her, and he seemed uncomfortable with it.

“ _No… we’re just friends… Miyu’s the one for me. I can’t fall in love with someone else, that would be immature._ ”


	7. The Legendary Vermillion Capes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legendary Vermillion Capes... legend has it that they existed, but some legends claimed that they were only legends of their own, because no one was alive at that time to give a proof about it.

**Aqu. XXXI 842 R.G.**

The hour of the _large_ battle approached and Akademeia’s Archsorceress Arecia Al-Rashia was overlooking the Rubrum region on the terrace when she was suddenly joined by Akademeia’s history lecturer, Instructor Ai Miura, the latter was very intrigued by Arecia’s presence as She was rarely seen due to Her duties. Little did Miura know, Arecia was there on purpose, to see her, but how did She know that Miura would come there in the first place?

“Long time no see, my darling.”

She gave Her a little smile. “Dr. Arecia, it’s always a pleasure to see you.”

“How’s the life of an Instructor treats you these days?”

The life of an Instructor was very boring for the youngest instructor on Akademeia, it wasn’t due to the fact that she wasn’t very eager on it, but rather because she still hadn’t her own class to command with for years, unlike Kurasame, who was the CO of Class First for years. Miura was still in the blur on how she still wasn’t assigned as a CO on one of the twelve classes, considering her reputation as one of the legendary figures of Rubrum. There had been several reassignments back and forth between all of the classes except Class First few years past, but still, Miura didn’t get assigned to one of those classes.

The reason about Miura still being freed from CO duties was only privy to Arecia and Rubrum’s one and only, Khalia Chival VI. She was actually being reserved to lead one specific class that would only appear if they need to.

“In that case, you’ll don’t have to worry about it anymore soon enough,” Arecia said.

“What do you mean?”

“The gears of fate will always turn, and soon, the gears will stop turning unless you’ll help all of us on turning it.”

“Still talking in riddles, Doctor,” Miura said, smirking.

Later that day, Arecia went to her external facility outside of Akademeia. She went there to oversee the final preparations of the “ _one specific class that would only appear if they need to_ ”. In the arena, she could see there were several cadets doing their routine combat training. Even though Arecia wasn’t a fighter, she knew a lot about combat tactics, and she noticed that there were still several things need sharpening from them. She halted the training and called them to the sidelines.

“Nine, you have to watch your footing. Don’t run into Sice when she was busy fighting.”

The two nodded and took their notes on what Arecia said.

“Eight, don’t go by yourself, you’re leaving Cater and King by themselves as you did. This drill is as real as it gets in real combat and you all could get hurt.”

“Yes, Mother. Sorry about that,” Eight said.

“Last but not least,” said Arecia, glaring towards the other two of all, “Jack, Cinque, you two know better not to distract others by talking about foods.”

“But, Mother… I’m starving~” Cinque said, “Jack said that you will cook us a great meal tonight.”

Jack nodded, grinning.

“Is that so?” Arecia smiled. “Well, he’s not wrong. I will cook you all a fine dinner tonight.”

“Really~?!”

“But not before you take your training seriously.”

“Yes, Mother!” Jack and Cinque shouted simultaneously.

Arecia then continued Her walk around the facility, eventually ending up in the facility’s personal Crystarium. As expected, she found the ones she expected there, reading books, a stack of books to be precise.

“Hello Ace, Queen, and Trey. Still preferring to spend your time here than on the arena I see.”

“Of course, Mother. To begin with, studying is one of—,”

“Not now. I’m studying,” Queen said in an annoyed tone.

Arecia grinned, they were just as innocent as they had always been.

She continued, “By the way, have any of you my darlings seen Machina and Rem?”

“Of course, Mother.” Ace closed his book and stood up. “I’ll take you to them.”

Ace then took Arecia to the facility’s pantry. Machina and Rem were there, with Seven. The two were busy helping Seven to prepare that night’s grand dinner. Arecia decided to leave them be, not intending to hinder the dinner’s preparations. Ace had one thing in mind he wanted to tell Arecia, it wasn’t too important, but he seemed to be troubled by it, it was about the chocobos, there had been some food shortages during the war as all of the chocobo rations were mostly sent to the chocobo ranch on Akademeia instead of this facility. Arecia told him not to worry about it, and offered a solution by giving them their leftovers from the dinner later on.

Time went by so fast and before they realized it, it was nighttime already. The dinner had been served and everyone enjoyed their delightful dinner together, as if they were a family. The dinner seemed to reinvigorate the cadets, as they would be sent to the battlefield the next day, making a surprising appearance as the legendary Class Zero, which was mentioned before, “ _would appear in desperate times_ ”. The dinner took an hour as they all finally finished their meal, Nine was the first to leave the table, sleepy, the others soon followed suit until it was Seven, Machina, and Ace that was left. Seven took care of the dishes while Machina and Ace brought the leftovers to the chocobos as promised earlier. The chocobos were very happy upon being delivered the foods, this made both of them smiling, as they both love chocobos from the bottom of their hearts.

Machina bumped Ace’s shoulders. “Admit it. You’re crying, Ace.”

“No, you admit it.”

The two of them said at the same time, “Yeah. We’re ‘both’ crying alright.”

They both didn’t actually cry. They would be ashamed if they were caught crying in front of another. Machina then took his leave early as he needed to see Arecia one last time before they head out early the next day, he found her standing silently on the facility’s rooftop, overlooking the Togoreth Stronghold, where they would make their grand appearance.

“Machina, my darling. Is everyone ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes, Doctor. Don’t worry about them, I’ll protect them as best as I can.”

Arecia smiled. “Good. Now get some sleep, you’ll need it.”

“I will, Doctor.”


	8. Wings of Fire II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hour of battle approached, and all the fun Class First cadets had must be put to a halt, at least for a while until the battle was over. For all they knew, they could probably never had fun anymore, as they weren't unsure themselves whether they would return alive... or dead.

****

**Aqu. XXXI 842 R.G.**

Earlier that day back on Akademeia, after Class First’s lecture session ended, Kurasame entered the classroom after the instructor left the room. The moment Kurasame stepped his foot in front of the stage, everyone went silent and their faces turned serious, eyes locked towards Kurasame and the strategic map in front. Additionally, they received an unexpected guest for this occasion, she was the best when it comes to military tactics among the cadets.

Katana bumped Reon’s shoulder. “Hey, It’s—”

“I know. I’m not blind, Katana.”

Katana chuckled. Their guest was none other than Reon’s special someone.

According to the intel, Milites planned to split their troops into three, planning to surround Togoreth Stronghold and trap the remnants of the 1st Legion. Rubrum assumed that Milites planned to lure 2nd Legion and 3rd Legion to enter the fray so they could battle it all out in a single day, gambling the result in the process. Currently, it was only their initial prediction, as them luring the 2nd and 3rd Legion seemed off. Reon noticed something in their numbers, it turned out that Milites split their armies evenly, with each battalion consisted of the mixed 20.000 Imperial troopers.

Reon raised his hand. “Commander, what’s our current numbers?”

“1st Legion only had 10.000 men left. They outnumber us from 6 to 1. The Evocati is on the advance as we speak from Judecca, they will add 5.000 troops to our totals.”

Katana asked, “Can we add more 15.000 men from the other Legions?”

“We can. The 2nd Legion is already on the march with 5.000 Legionaries, and the 3rd Legion is also on the march with 15.000.”

With their totals numbered 35.000 troopers, Rubrum had a plan, a crazy plan to be exact, and it would be delivered by Miyu as Kurasame motioned towards her. Miyu called the tactic “defeat in detail”. The plan was to overwhelm the Imperials’ center battalion by sending 30.000 troops against their 20.000, while the remaining 5.000 would be split evenly to hold the wing battalions at bay while all the action took place in the center.

“Well said, Miss Miyu.” –Kurasame clapped his hands— “The honor of holding the rest will go to the Evocati and you, my Class First cadets. With two of our mighty forces combined, we should be able to hold the overwhelming numbers of the Imperials.”

There was more to Miyu’s plan, to claim another advantage, the Legion would be sallying forth during the dawn, in which the sun would certainly blind the advancing Imperials from the west. The Empire would have no choice but to engage them, to the Legion’s favor, because if the Empire didn’t engage, they would lose their momentum. To ensure more advantage, Katana rejoined the conversation by picking the battlefield for the holding regiment, she stated that they would stand a better chance fighting the Imperials in the wooded area and Togoreth Stronghold was coincidentally surrounded by those. At that moment, everyone finally realized with Miyu, Reon and Katana’s minds combined, there would be nothing that could stop them from winning the battle, even with smaller numbers. With their plan making sense in every direction, the Consortium would surely approve it. With all being said, Kurasame sent them to the front gates to await their marching orders, like before, Kurasame wouldn’t be participating at the battle.

The Class First’s lecture hall door echoed as the cadets exited the classroom, everyone glanced towards them and started whispering things, they hoped that these brave cadets would return home as they were, not as knowing tags. Soon enough, these cadets found themselves at the front gates, with Miyu in front of them as she intended to deliver them a speech before she sent them away to the battlefield. After the Class First regiment went silent, Miyu delivered a speech to encourage them, not that she needed to do it as they were already eager at the first place, but still, her words further energized them.

“It is time. Please return home safely, everyone.” That was Miyu’s last sentence after she gave the Class First cadets some encouragement before they marched. There were some minutes left to spare, Miyu decided to call Reon to the sidelines for a small talk.

“That was a great speech, as always.”

She laughed. “Reon, Reon, you and your praises... they never cease to amaze me.”

Katana suddenly joined them. “I know right? With the three of our minds combined, well the two of you, I mean, nothing could stop us.”

Reon glared his eyes towards Katana, gesturing a “ _Please stop it_.” as he did so.

“Sorry… wrong topic, huh?” said Katana, twirling her hair.

She left them, giving an awkward impression.

“Would you look at that, my friend?” Miyu pointed towards Katana. “Your calm and collected friend seemed nervous this time.”

“No kidding. Well I think it’s time, see you soon, Representative.”

They gave each other a warm hug before Reon finally marched his classmates towards the Togoreth stronghold, taking one last look before he reached the bridge, he could see that Miyu was waving her hand towards his direction, Reon’s eyes weren’t as sharp as he would hope for, in confusion, he waved back towards her direction, hoping that she was indeed waving towards him. Katana noticed him doing so, she then rode her chocobo beside him. Reon was the first one to talk, about that awkward encounter.

“What the hell was that, Katana?”

“Sorry, dude. I thought you two are seeing each other already.”

Reon rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I wish.”

After nearly an hour of marching, they finally reached Togoreth Stronghold, where they were greeted by the 1st Legion’s Cavalry Regiment Commander, Izana Kunagiri, looking energized as ever. He immediately directed them towards the Central Command to receive their orders. On the way, Reon glanced around his surroundings, there were several Legionaries staring at them, these weren’t some ordinary soldiers as they were wearing the uniform of the Evocati.

Soon, they found themselves in the Central Command, Tsurugi was there talking with the 1st Legion Commander, Sayaka Satoshi, former commander of the 3rd Legion.

Reon hailed the commander, “Commander Tsurugi of the Evocatus.”

“There you are, Kurayami. I’ll be with you cadets in a minute.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Tsurugi was done talking with Sayaka, the former briefed them the perfected battle plan they would be executing at dawn. And then, that night, the 2nd Legion and 3rd Legion finally arrived at the camp, they acted as if the victory was all but won by enjoying the night with drinking, eating, and playing cards, it was probably a bad thing to do before a battle, but Tsurugi and Sayaka let them had their way.

Outside the stronghold, Tsurugi and Sayaka were enjoying their rations when Reon came upon them. They called him to join in, of course Reon couldn’t resist it as they offered him their share of their rations. The Legion might be less epic when it comes to battle than the cadets, but their rations were somehow a thousand times better and tastier than the ones cadets had.

“Kurayami,” Sayaka called. “How’s Tohno doing back at Akademeia?”

“She’s doing fine I suppose,” Reon said, half serious as he was busy enjoying the Legion’s ration.

Tsurugi joined in their conversation. “Did you know that my cousin here is planning to adopt her when this is all over?”

“Really? I didn’t know about that.”

“Well…” Sayaka said, “Tohno needed someone that she could see as a mother, I think nature calls me to be the one when I started tutoring her. Tohno… she’s a hard one to read, isn’t she? For starters, she didn’t have a lot of friends to begin with and she seems to be having a hard time trying to socialize with others.

“That’s why I’m planning to adopt her as my daughter. With me around her, I could try to lead her onto the better path, and that’s why I want this war to be over sooner than later. And as for you, Kurayami, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Your welcome… but, for what?”

Sayaka smiled. “You’ve been such a good friend for her. I admit, though, at first I thought you two were more than friends.”

Reon gasped, he didn’t expect that she thought it that way. “N-no, we are only friends, good friends to be exact,” he said, twirling his medium long black hair.

“I see. Either way, I’m glad that she had friends that could be relied on at any time.”

They talked for several more minutes until Reon finished his meal and headed back to his tent to get some rest before the battle, he needed it after all after that tiring march from Akademeia to Togoreth.

Meanwhile, back at Akademeia, Kurasame tirelessly walked back and forth inside the Central Command, receiving every updates from Togoreth nearly every ten minutes. From afar, Miyu noticed Kurasame was starting to get tired, and thus, she asked the man to get some rest back to his room.

Walking towards his room through the silent Akademeia, Kurasame couldn’t shake the anxiety that his cadets would soon put their lives on the line once again outside his watch. For years, he missed the bitter taste of the battlefield, with his hands always itching to conjure his notorious Iceblade, but there was nothing he could do, he was getting older and frankly would be better off the battlefield, as there was a possibility that he could be a burden to his cadets should he do so.

The moment he entered his bedroom, someone was already there, waiting for him.

“Hello, Kurasame. Planning to get some rest, are we?”

“Yes. How’s things with Lorica, Aoi?”

“Everything’s alright, I suppose.”

Aoi was the one who ensured the Loricans to fight alongside Rubrum in this war. Holding the position of Prime Deputy, succeeding her father who retired not long ago, she had to ensure that the Concordians and the Loricans were on their side. For years, she endlessly traveled back and forth towards the two nations to maintain their good relationships towards each other. It wasn’t very easy at first, she was still 26 after all. For a lady that young, everyone had their doubts before for her to take part actively in the Dominion’s diplomatic affairs. Against all odds, she proved them that she was more than capable of handling her position as the Prime Deputy.

“Tomorrow will be a big day for all of us. If we win, we’ll surely win this war and peace will finally be upon us.”

“Indeed. When this is all over, will you finally ask me to marry you?”

Kurasame smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She jumped in excitement. “Tomorrow it is then!”

Before she headed back to her room, she gave him a kiss. She left the room with excitement, as she had a feeling that her life would turn around by next night. They had been in a steady relationship for 5 years, would this finally be the time for them to settle down? Only time could tell. That night, Aoi fell asleep with a smile on her face, on the other hand, Kurasame fell asleep with a mixed feeling between excitement and anxiety, alas, he was only able to sleep after taking a sleeping potion.

Meanwhile, somewhere near the borders of Rubrum region, Arecia entered her personal facility once more. Ever the calmest one, she stood in front of fourteen Agito cadets, wearing the _legendary vermillion red capes_.

“The gears of fate will always keep turning. Now set forth, and become the writers of fate itself, my children.”

With their faces showing determination, they shouted, “Yes, Mother!”

“You’ll only live _once_. Be sure to watch each other’s backs and come back alive from all of your missions.”

“Yes, Mother!” they shouted once again.

These cadets, were none other than the legendary Class Zero.

As they set forth towards Togoreth, Arecia mumbled to herself, “ _This cycle’s already so much different than before. Let’s see how it would play out._ ”


	9. Chapter of Truth I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Arecia's end, she wondered how this cycle would play out. This cycle had already shown so many differences than the previous ones.

Outside the Spiral,

Arecia was about to reset the spiral as it was just another failure, being unable to awoken Agito at all, this spiral was the worst one she witnessed so far, with no clear candidate of Agito ever showing up during _Tempus Finis_ , even all of Her children died before they even got to Tempus Finis. There was something wrong, something missing, ever since she casted out three humans from her experiment to become Her servants instead.

“Mother. I had enough, please, allow us all to return as human beings this time.”

“You asked me that hundred times already, my answer’s still no. Unless you had a good reason this time, you better get back on restoring their souls back to Orience.”

“This spiral was certainly the worst of all. When I was chosen as the judge, we nearly find what you always seek. But somehow, I still failed.”

“ _Nearly find_ , you say? You never said this before.” Arecia frowned. “Go on.”

“What if I am worthy enough to become Agito? What if either one of us three was destined to become Agito? You have to give us a chance, please!”

Arecia thought about it for a while, it seemed like an eternity as She finally showed a slight hint of approval of what this servant said.

“Very well. But in order to do so, you three must lose all of your memories and start anew as mere human beings. Additionally, one of you will become an enemy towards the two of you. It’s all up to you on how you want to play this.”

She frowned. “Why can’t you make him born as a Rubran instead?”

“I can’t do that, my dear. Now without further delay, sleep tight.”

“Mother, wait!”

Without giving her time to speak further, Arecia put her into sleep, and erased her memories alongside the other two later on. She then casted her servants back amongst the humans, they would soon be reborn as ordinary humans, just like before they served Arecia.


	10. We Have Arrived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rubrum and Milites found themselves fighting for their lives, yet again, on the plains of Togoreth Stronghold. Many said that the future of both nations hinged on this very battle, and thus, they must give it their all on this battle.

****  


**Pet. I 842 R.G.**

The sun finally loomed over the horizon, and the Legion marched out of their camps, splitting into three different battalions as planned with the wings entering the wooded areas. From the overlook of the Imperials’ camp, the sentry hurriedly informed the Imperial High Commander, Brigadier General Qator Bashtar, that the Legion was on the march, and approaching very fast. Half-surprised, Qator reacted quickly by issuing their marching orders.

“They outsmarted us,” Qator said, “We’ll be fighting with the sun in our eyes.”

Colonel Charon smirked. “That wouldn’t matter. We’ll surround them after our wings pushed through their lines.”

The Empire didn’t know that Rubrum already anticipated that maneuver, the wooded area did its part on screening the advancing Evocati. They were already there, waiting to cut them down the moment they stepped their foot in the woods.

“Well if that’s the case, then there’s no need to waste lady Qun’mi’s time to deploy the Crystal jammer.”

“You’re wrong, Captain Belfarre,” Colonel Faith said, “she had to be on standby at all times.”

After ten minutes of preparation, the Imperials marched out of their camp. The large army of 60.000 then fanned out towards three directions as planned, the battle of Togoreth, entered its first minutes.

With the two center armies meeting head on towards each other, Qator finally realized that the Legion’s army was smaller than he initially thought, even though it still outnumbered the Imperial’s center. Rubrum’s center Legion fought conservatively at first, allowing the Empire army to slowly gain ground. At the same time, Imperial wing battalions started to approach the Legion’s lines, slowly approaching the tree line of the battlefield. As the Imperial’s wings started to turn their direction towards the center, they were suddenly barraged by heavy fire magic, confusion started to occur as some of their troopers turned towards the tree line while some of them kept on advancing towards the center. Seeing the opportunity, the Legion’s wing commanders informed each other to attack at once simultaneously.

Without delay, the Legion’s wings surged out of their tree lines, ambushing the Imperials. The initial charge took a heavy toll on the Imperials as they lost many soldiers in the perfectly executed ambush by the Legions. The Imperials’ wings were lucky to be commanded by Faith and Charon respectively, not long after realizing the ambush, Faith and Charon ordered their battalions to focus on the ambushers after being granted by Qator to do so.

“ _Ambush on the flanks. Such a great plan, who had this idea, I wonder?_ ” Qator mumbled.

The Legion’s wings noticed the Imperials’ sudden change in direction and moved on to their 2nd plan to retreat back to the wooded area so that they could stand a better chance fighting the overwhelming numbers. On the Legion’s right wing, Reon ran back and forth, issuing an order for his classmates to use hit-and-run tactic that they were great at. Not allowing a single of his classmate fell, he rapidly surged to their rescue as soon as he noticed one of them was getting surrounded. Furthermore, Katana fought like a loose hound as usual, and also as per usual, counting her kills.

Noticing that Reon was on her sights, she shouted, “Yo, Reon! I’m on 30 already!”

“57?! What the hell?!” –he teared apart one of the Imperials in front of him— “This is only my 20th!”

“I told you, I’m better than you’ll ever be.”

The two had been doing this at every battle they took part on, and slowly, their classmates started to follow their examples, not their “counting kills” habit, but rather how they were able to remain calm during the battle. After all, what made Class First special was “that” particular trait they showed in battle. By remaining both calm and serious, they were able to cut everything in their paths effortlessly, enjoying every second spent in slashing, stabbing, and cutting their adversaries. With the combined might of Class First and the Evocati, the Empire’s plan began to crumble as their raw recruits started to ran back towards their own lines, breaking order and resulted in more casualties all the while the Rubrum soldiers were enjoying every moment of it. Everything started to fall apart on the Empire’s side, with their center in the brink of falling, they feared that Rubrum’s center will start to aid their wings as well. Qator, finally realized that they had to use their “trick up their sleeves” at this moment.

“Lean. Send in the Invincible now.”

“(On radio) Yes sir! I’ll inform lady Qun’mi right away.”

Hurrying towards the standing by Invincible flagship, Lean informed the l’Cie Qun’mi about the situation. Hundreds of soldiers then climbed aboard the Invincible, including Lean and Qun’mi themselves.

Before the eyes of every soldier in the field, the Invincible flew past behind Rubrum’s lines. The Legion’s rearguard attempted to take it down, but the flagship was just too strong. Even so, the flagship appeared to be not attacking them at all, because it wasn’t an assault airship, but rather a cargo airship. The cargo bay of the Invincible roared open, and a large Magitek Armor emerged into view, the MA dropped behind the Legion’s center rear line, and then, the flagship dropped a protective barrier surrounding the MA, preventing it from being reached by the rearguard.

“It’s been real, Rubrum” said Qunmi, who was preparing to set up their secret weapon.

Suddenly, the Magitek Armor emitted an energy wave, creating a visible dome that enveloped the whole Togoreth region. Almost instantly, Rubrum soldiers lost their magic and the Imperials surged forward like wild men. Within seconds, the Legion’s casualties started to mount rapidly, especially in the center where the heat was the most intense. Meanwhile on the tree line, the Evocati and Class First were forced to fight with tooth and nails without their magic.

“Reon! What the hell happened?! My magic!” Katana shouted.

“No idea! I can’t contact the Central Command!”

“It’s the Crystal Jammer! I’m sure of it! What do we do now?!”

As their communication also relied on magic, they couldn’t ask what was going on whatsoever on the other side of the battlefield. Despite all of the chaos around, something strange happened that time and Katana saw it as clear as daylight, it was Reon, who was still fighting rather calmly, with “magic”.

She said in a shocked tone, “Dude? How did you—”

“This is the answer to your curiosity, we’ll talk about it later. Now give it all you got!”

“Very well.” Katana took a deep breath, she agreed to focus on the battle instead. “You heard the guy! We’re Class First cadets! We’ll rip them off with our fangs if we have to!”

Hearing Katana’s encouragement, her classmates surged out from their cover, they still had their hand weapons, meaning they could still fight. The Evocatus saw them and didn’t want to be outclassed by “a bunch of kids”, and thus, they surged out of their covers as well. Fighting like monsters, the right wing started to push back the Imperials, even without magic. Even though it was chaotic, the left wing, who were at a higher ground than the center and the right noticed them from afar and followed their examples by valiantly fighting the Imperials with everything they’ve got. Unfortunately, the same thing couldn’t be said at the center as they were getting pushed back towards the stronghold, barricading the gates behind them, alas, leaving the wings stranded outside. Qator changed his plan of assault by splitting the center into two to assist the endangered wings. Little did he know, he would soon regret ever doing so.

Two hours into the battle, the skies suddenly turned dark, the thing that the Empire always feared finally made an appearance in this battle. The Vermillion Bird eidolon descended from the sky, and rapidly, it breathed its inferno towards the Empire’s center, killing many of them as they were busy marching towards the wings and weren’t given a second to brace for it. With his men dropping like flies, Qator disengaged from the wings, and ordered his men to take cover below the Magitek Armors, in hopes of weathering the inferno. Just as they were holed up below the MAs, another Eidolon appeared right in front of them.

Qator noticed it from afar. “Impossible! It’s the Odin eidolon!”

The soldiers might be able to shelter from the Vermillion Bird’s inferno below their Magitek Armors, but as for Odin, it was proven to be useless. Surging with all his might, Odin slashed through the Magitek Armors like butter. Virtually coverless, the Imperials started to shatter, those who were unfortunate enough to be close with Odin got trampled, and those who were unfortunate enough to be in his sights were torn apart in a single stroke. Inside Qun’mi’s barricade, she started receiving reports that the center was getting obliterated, enraging her very much.

“Eidolon?! How could they still use magic?!” She then turned her attention towards Lean. “Lean! Defensive position! Something’s coming our way and I can feel it.”

“Yes, lady Qun’mi!”

The 100 soldiers then formed a human barricade, circling around the main barricade, with their bayonets fixed. They were wrong to set their attention towards the barricade’s front, as there were already fourteen cadets looking right at them from the top of the barricade.

“We have arrived,” said one of the cadets, simultaneously, the fourteen cadets jumped from the top of the barricade, right in the middle of the circle. Before the Imperials realized it, the cadets already struck them down from behind. The moment the Imperials turned around, the cadets’ leader shifted their tactics.

“Deuce, Seven, Nine, wall! Ace you’re with me.”

“Acknowledged, Machina!” they shouted.

Conjuring a wall at the nick of time, they managed to endure the Imperials’ inferno like it was nothing at all, and just as the Imperials ran out of ammo, several cadets emerged out of the wall in every direction.

“Trey, Cater, left side with me!” Ace shouted, “Jack, King, right side with Machina!”

Ace glided around the field spectacularly, attacking in every direction. He appeared to be the most flexible of them all alongside Eight. Deeper inside the barricade, a team consisted of Rem, Queen, Cinque, and Sice finally found the flagship.

Qun’mi noticed them approaching. “Vermillion red capes… they did exist after all.”

“Lady Qun’mi! I can try to hold them on!”

Qun’mi knew he would be throwing his life away if he did. “No. Get out of here. You have no idea what they’re capable of.”

“But—”

“That’s an order. Sneak through the back of my MA and get out from this barricade.”

Even though feeling unhappy, Lean escaped from the barricade and headed back towards their main camp, avoiding every confrontation whenever possible. 


	11. We Have Arrived II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle raged on for hours, until Rubrum lost their advantage, and started receiving massive casualties. It seemed all hope was lost, until Class Zero showed up and saved the day.

**Pet. I 842 R.G.**

Back on Rubrum’s Central Command, Miyu, Kurasame, the Commandant, and literally everyone frantically tried to contact the army, still to no avail. Their COMM was still working perfectly, but yet they still couldn’t contact Togoreth at all, it was because they were out of the jammer’s dome. Miyu hastily sprinted outside the Central Command towards the terrace and she could finally see what had been happening on Togoreth, and then, something amazing happened, the dome suddenly shattered from view and Miyu could clearly saw it happening. She hurried back towards the Central Command again, to her surprise, everyone seemed to be calmer than they were before.

“Miss Miyu, where have you been? We finally got our communications back,” Kurasame said.

“I saw what’s been happening outside, the Empire used a Crystal jammer to block their magic and our communications.”

“Yes, indeed. Reports just came in that the jammer have been disabled.”

Miyu was thoroughly shocked. “How?”

“Some brave cadets entered the fray and destroyed the jammer by themselves.”

“Class First?”

“No. It was Class Zero. Get back here, they’re all yours.”

“ _Class Zero?! So they do exist after all._ ”

Miyu had no time to ask more questions, she decided to take her seat and continue her duties as cadet command. She hailed Class Zero, and Machina was the one to respond her call. Class Zero had successfully defeated the l’Cie Qun’mi who was controlling the jammer, confirming that Milites had been using l’Cie in this battle.

Back at Togoreth, Machina crouched to respond to her call. “What are our next orders?”

“(On COMM) Assist the endangered main army and overwhelm the center.”

“Affirmative, Representative Miyu.”

Machina then relayed their new orders to his fellow Class Zero members, and soon, they attacked the Empire’s center from behind. Panic started to spread within the Empire’s lines, and soon, many Imperials surrendered by dropping their weapons. The Empire’s vanguard, led by Qator, punched through the Legionaries’ line and retreated back towards the main camp, he also ordered Charon and Faith to disengage and return to the main camp at once. Even though they managed to return to their camp safely, the Imperials’ rearguard was completely annihilated trying to protect those who were retreating. The Commandant ordered the field commanders to capture the surrendering Imperials, but it seemed that order broke down on every Rubrum regiments, whether it was the center or the wings, they ignored it outright and massacred every Imperials they could see, even the surrendering ones. Back at the Empire’s camp, only few personnel of the wing battalions returned. The Battle of Togoreth, was finally over, and it was a crushing defeat for Milites and a costly victory for Rubrum.

Few hours after the battle was over, the sight of destruction and death littered the field as everyone scattered around the field, looking for survivors. Reon took Katana to an isolated part of the battlefield where nobody else but them was there, he decided that it was time that he told her the truth about his powers. Pointing at one of the dead Imperials, he told her to watch as he demonstrated the source of his powers. Katana would be lying if she was not shocked by the sight, she thought it was both horrible and fascinating at the same time.

“So, now you know,” Reon said, staring at the ground.

“Reon, I had no idea. Is this power that saved us the last time?”

“Yeah, but like I told you before, there’s much I don’t remember during the battle.” He then held both Katana’s shoulders with his hands. “This power, my friend… is a dangerous one to wield, and frankly I was forbidden to use it by the one who taught me.”

“But it saved us, from a certain death.”

Reon smiled. “That’s one way to look on it. Furthermore…”

Reon decided to reveal one more secret he had been holding, it was his blade, he actually had two weapons, in which the one he conjured at that time was the one he used at the disaster on Rubrum region, it was very different than the one he usually used on the battlefield, and on their battle here at Togoreth plains.

“Ancient writing?!” Katana paused. “Wait… I know this sword.”

“Of course you are.”

“This was the blade used by—”

Reon interrupted, “The l’Cie Kiyosaki, yes.”

“Exactly. Legends told us that he used the strongest spear ever known to pierce through the Invincible Armor of Genbu.”

“Right. But what the legends didn’t tell us was that he used another weapon to finish the job. The spear—”

“Wasn’t enough to pierce through the Genbu l’Cie’s flesh, and thus—”

“He used another weapon to finish the job… this sword.”

The sword… wasn’t tempered by Kiyosaki himself, but he got help, and the only one who knew about it was Lady Caetuna, and of course, the one who helped him. Poor Reon didn’t know that the one who helped Kiyosaki was someone close to him in the past, the one he decided to leave, despite all the love he was given, all for his decision to live through his own path.

They decided to head back to the stronghold after gathering some more knowing tags they could find on the field, on the way back, Reon continued to share some more details behind his powers, and most importantly, the one who taught him to do so. Katana promised not to tell anyone regarding his true powers as Reon mentioned that there would be some unwanted eyes set upon him the moment the truth came out, especially from the Consortium.

“So, you’re like… adopted by Dr. Arecia on your youth, huh?”

“Sort of, but that’s in the past.” Reon took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “We’re not on speaking terms for a while now.”

Katana sighed. “I understand. Well, can we go back now?”

The sun was almost setting as they finally reached Togoreth Stronghold to regroup. Bloodied and trembling, Reon sat at one of the bonfire created by the 1st Legion Cavalry Commander. He would soon meet someone he was supposed to remember.

“You’re Cadet Kurayami, right?” the commander asked.

“Yes, sir. You are Captain Izana, right?”

The Captain was glad that Reon remembered him, but the latter actually didn’t fully remember who he was.

“That’s me. So, any casualties from Class First?”

Reon remained silent, not long after, Katana joined them, bringing the news.

“All Class First cadets are accounted for and are resting at the stronghold.”

“Roger that.” He then glanced towards Izana. “You have your answer, Captain.”

Although Class First suffered no casualties, Reon was still shaken by the fact that they almost got killed in the worst way possible and in a dishonored fashion. He was further getting upset that everyone hailed Class Zero as the key point for their victory at this battle, in which actually it was mostly thanks to Miyu’s “defeat in detail” strategy. The wings actually did manage to push through even without their magic, they were just about to march towards the center when Class Zero showed up and stole Class First and Evocati’s glory. Hearing Reon letting out his frustration, one of the Evocatus joined in their conversation.

“You’ll get used to it, kids. You did the same to us in the past,” he said, winking towards them as he continued walking around the stronghold.

The Evocatus was not wrong, he was stating a bitter fact that every Evocatus had to carry on every day on their lives. For generations, Evocati had always been the backbone of the Legion, but every time Rubrum won a battle, the ones who were always making the headlines were none other than the Class First cadets. The cadets indeed fought valiantly in those battles, but so did the Evocati, but they never got the credit they always hoped as Class First would just take all of the glory.

Izana patted on both Reon and Katana’s shoulders. “Don’t let him get through your minds. You’re still elite cadets to us all.”

Katana smiled. “Yes sir, thank you.”

Katana then took her leave as she was starving and headed back inside the stronghold to grab some rations, leaving Reon and Izana alone.

Izana knew Reon from the past when the young man was still a trainee, but the same thing couldn’t be said for Reon, he only remembered this man as the person who escorted him towards Togoreth Central Command the day before. There was something else that Izana forgot, though, he did remember Reon, but he had forgotten on how he knew him on the first place. He remembered that he used to visit the trainee class his brother Machina resided, but that was all there’s to it, there was just one thing that he particularly forgotten. He always got a weird unexplainable feeling every time he said “Kurayami”, he felt as if he mentioned that name in the past.

“Say, Kurayami… do you happen to have any siblings?”

Reon frowned. “No? Why do you ask, Captain?”

“Well, it’s just that… I had a dream a day before the battle about someone, she looks… similar like you.”

“A ‘she’ that looks like me?” –Reon chuckled— “I would love to see that one, Captain.”

Izana thought it was no use trying to remember something that he couldn’t possibly remember, he then changed the topic to try making him remember who he was back then by asking him about Machina, shocking Reon so much on how would Izana knew Machina, his old friend.

“My name’s Izana Kunagiri. Do you remember me properly now?”

“Izana… Kunagiri. It can’t be! You’re… Machina’s older brother! I remember that you used to visit your brother in my trainee class!”

Izana laughed. “Now you remember me.”

Reon looked ashamed. “I’m sorry. I truly forgot about you, Captain.”

“No worries. I rarely see my brother now. Now that you’re here, can I talk to you about him?”

“Sure. ‘Firaga’ away, Captain.”

Izana told him that he met Machina earlier after the battle, he seemed different. The cheerful and friendly Machina was no way near than the Machina he met earlier, he seemed cold, ignorant, and the way Machina talked to him was almost as if he forgotten that Izana was his brother.

“That’s awful. What happened to him?”

Izana shook his head. “I don’t know, that’s why I wanted to talk to you, because you’re his old friend and all.”

It was in fact true about what Izana said, but something happened in the past as Machina approached his last year as trainee. He was taken away from Akademeia to take part in a special training under Akademeia’s Archsorceress, Dr. Arecia Al-Rashia, he essentially dropped out from school by doing so. After he was taken away alongside his childhood friend, Rem Tokimiya, that was pretty much it for them, they never talked anymore let alone see each other.

“That’s what I always feared, Cadet Kurayami.” Izana sighed. “Whatever She’s done to him, he was not my brother anymore.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Captain. Mind telling me more about it?”

Earlier after the battle,

Izana was walking around the camp when he spotted 4 cadets wearing the legendary vermillion red capes. He couldn’t believe that Class Zero truly existed in a world where he lived that day. He was even more in shock when he recognized one of the cadets sitting in that campfire.

“ _Is that… Machina?!_ ”

He rushed to the campfire, and the Class Zero cadets were shocked by his rushed arrival.

“Slow down, Captain. Do you need something?” Seven said in a calming tone.

Machina looked up, and he finally realized who it was. “Is that?!”

“Machina! It’s so good to see you!” He then hastily embraced him, but… in a sudden turn of events, Machina turned him away. 

Machina gave him a stern look. “Take it easy, you’re embarrassing me here!”

“ _What?! Why did he say that?!_ ”

Izana didn’t want to apologize, but he was forced to do just that so that he could cool Machina down. Seven knew who Izana was, and she took the other two with her and leave them to have their conversation. As the two were left alone, Machina didn’t say anything, and it quickly turned into an awkward encounter.

“So… Machina. How are you?” Izana asked, in an awkwardly tone.

“Fine.”

Back on Izana’s campfire,

“…and it dragged on like that back and forth. He wouldn’t say anything aside from ‘fine, okay, yes, sure’.”

“By the Crystal, what have Dr. Arecia done to him?”

“I want to ask you one more thing… you had a connection with Dr. Arecia, don’t you?”

Reon said, “I ‘was’. Wait, how did you know?”

“I’m an ex-intelligence officer, Cadet Kurayami. I dug through the files regarding Dr. Arecia and I see your name in one of the files.”

Reon knew there was no avoiding the truth. He was indeed connected with Arecia in the past, but something made him cut his ties with Her, it was because of something he took part during his first year as a Class First cadet when he accepted an unsanctioned mission to aid the Evocati on a covert operation. It was riddled with dark secrets, that was why he was reluctant on sharing the details with Izana.

“I know that mission. That mission caused several civilian casualties, isn’t it?”

Izana did know. He was used to those kind of missions and he surely knew what had been happening behind the curtains. But that wasn’t the true cause Reon cut his ties with Arecia. It was something that was tied to his ability to absorb the phantomas of those he felled.

“There’s more. You must’ve known a thing or two about phantomas, right?

Reon was deeply shocked. “By the Crystal, Captain! Just how much did you know?”

Izana laughed. “I’m sorry, Kurayami. I won’t bother you with this dark secret of yours again.” –he stretched his hands— “I’ll take my leave now. Please keep an eye for Machina for me.”

At the end of the day back on Togoreth’s Central Command, Commander Tsurugi gave them the final report of the battle, of the 35.000 soldiers Rubrum sent, they lost around 27.000 soldiers, with most casualties coming from the 1st Legion, including their commander, Sayaka Satoshi, Tsurugi’s own cousin, but he didn’t give much thought about it as he couldn’t remember about her at all. In conclusion, the 1st Legion only had around 300 personnel left, their Legion was virtually in tatters. On the other hand, of the 60.000 Imperial soldiers that were sent, only around 2.000 of them returned to their lands. It was both decisive and costly victory for Rubrum. If the war had to continue, Lorica and Concordia had to aid Rubrum as soon as possible as they virtually had no armies left to mount a counter-offensive towards the Empire.

During Class First’s return trip to Akademeia, Reon couldn’t stop thinking about Izana who apparently knew everything about him. Thankfully, Izana stopped in the middle of their conversation, had it dragged on for several more moments, Izana would’ve probably heard the true connection between Reon and Arecia.

“ _I’m pretty sure he knows that I was adopted by Mother. But… that was the past and I decided to leave Her and live by my own. By the Crystal, who knew what would’ve happened to me if I still take part in her dark secrets?_

“ _Speaking of dark secrets… did Machina drown inside her mysteries? What have you done to him, Mother? Furthermore… Captain Izana mentioned that Machina didn’t refer to Her as Mother, well that’s different… but still… he’s really different than what he was in the past._ ”

He decided to drop it all out and socialize with his friends along the way instead. There was one more thing on his mind, though, it was his promise to Miyu the day before to meet her after the battle, but as he took a good look on his uniform, it was badly tattered and bloodied, he couldn’t meet her like this, but then again he would be breaking his promise if he decided not to show up.

“You were mumbling.”

Reon was shocked. “Katana! You have to stop surprising me like that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just wear that jacket she gave you, it’ll do the trick on masking your badly tattered uniform.”

“ _She heard me?!_ ” he thought. “Y-yeah, okay. Thanks for the advice, Katana.”

“Anytime. By the way, I win. I dispatched 60 of those scums today.”

Reon remained silent, because he lost. He only managed to send 48 Imperials to the afterlife that day.


	12. Colorful Falling in Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Milites' defeat, the war would soon be over, and everyone could finally live their normal lives, once again. And as for love...

****

**Pet. I 842 R.G.**

“Come on! Let’s go!” Kurasame said as he walked Aoi towards the rooftop, a feeling of nostalgia slipped through their minds as Kurasame did the same thing 7 years back during his cadet time where he confessed his love for the first time for Aoi. As they reached the rooftop, they immediately rested their hands on the ledge to see the beautiful sight of the night, the sight itself was pretty much the same as 7 years ago, with clear skies filled with stars and the bright crescent moon. With the battle over, the war should also be over soon as Milites was on their last legs and had no means to fight back, this was the perfect time for Kurasame to enter a new chapter on his life. As they stared silently towards the skies, they could see a shooting star flew past them, they had a believe when a shooting star appeared, they could say what they were wishing in the future. Aoi wished that Orience would finally be in peace after this war, with no more wars in the future. As for Kurasame, Aoi would be shocked to hear what was it that he wished for.

“My wish?” Kurasame took a deep breath. “I wish I will have a great married life with this girl I’m in love with for years.”

Aoi started to feel nervous, what she hinted the other day seemed about to happen at any moment now. As the two stared at each other silently with their faces blushing, Kurasame suddenly kneeled in front of her, firmly holding both of Aoi’s hands.

Presenting a diamond ring, Kurasame said, “Aoi Tomoshibi, my love. Will you—”

“Yes! I will!”

Kurasame smiled innocently. “Come now, let me finish.”

“Sorry…”

“Aoi Tomoshibi, my love. Will you marry me?”

Tears started to pour out of her eyes. “Yes! I will, you… silly man!”

After he placed the beautiful diamond ring on her finger, Kurasame pulled her closer, with passion, they kissed under the starry night. Nothing, not even words, could describe their happiness to be finally engaged, they both had been waiting for this moment for years. The new chapter in their lives, had just begun. They shared a romantic hour on the rooftop, until Aoi fell asleep on Kurasame’s lap with a smile on her face, he then brought her back towards her room, giving her a kiss before he took his leave.

Not long after that, precisely at midnight, Reon and his classmates finally reached Akademeia. Reon immediately hurried his way towards the magic portal to the rooftop, Miyu was indeed there, enjoying the night calming breeze. Reon’s uniform was still badly tattered, bloodied, and dirty. Thankfully, Reon took on Katana’s advice earlier and worn his jacket that Miyu gave him on his birthday on the year he become a Class First cadet. The two embraced each other warmly, both of them were glad that Reon managed to return alive to be here on the rooftop.

Reon told her that he didn’t want to talk about the battle and therefore, Miyu decided to tell him that she witnessed a romantic encounter earlier between Kurasame and Aoi, Miyu was indeed there and it seemed that the two were so lost in their worlds that they didn’t notice that Miyu was there, watching them.

“Seriously? How did they not notice you?” Reon chuckled, shaking his head.

“No idea. By the way, speaking about love… can you believe that the your cold, quiet CO will soon be married to Ms. Tomoshibi, during these times?”

“I’m out of words there, Rep. But I’m telling this to everyone!” he said in excitement.

“Right, sure. But there’s more, I noticed that after our fellow cadets heard about our victory, couples started to surface, here, on Akademeia.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He smiled. “I guess we could finally have our normal student lives back.”

Reon was very relieved by it, even though their glory on the battle was stolen by Class Zero, he was pleased that he took part in what changed the cadets’ lives. Again, Miyu’s words seemed to steer him off his anger. Within each heartbeat that he felt was getting quicker every second, he was sure that he just fell in love even further for her, but yet he still didn’t want to confess about it until that day.

Miyu said, “Say… about the couples, you’re like a popular student in the peristylium. But you’re still nowhere near into your love life.”

“What can I say?” said Reon, who was trying to keep his cool, this topic about love seemed to put him on the edge as the one he loved was right in front of him.

“Reon, you’re not seeing someone, aren’t you?”

“No? Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that… I kept hearing gossips about you dating Tohno.”

“Where did you hear that?” Reon asked, in seriousness.

She said, “Your classmates, Aki, and the others.”

It was obviously not true. Without hesitation, he reassured her that there was nothing going on between him and Tohno. They were apparently close because Reon didn’t want Tohno to be alone at all times, as she didn’t have much friends, even Miyu should’ve known about that. Miyu did mention “the others” before, and therefore, Reon had an idea who that would be.

“That’s very kind of you for our old friend.” She smiled. “I wish I could talk with her as often as you, but I was too busy with my duties.”

“Yeah. I wonder though, was ‘the others’ that you mentioned before includes… Katana?”

“Indeed. Why do you ask?”

Reon tried as hard as he could to mask his smile, he knew Katana knew that he was in love with Miyu, but why did she play along with that “Reon and Tohno” gossip? With this, Reon went silent all of the sudden, he seemed to be lost in thought, yet again.

“Reon… what’s the matter?”

“Nothing. It’s just that… I’m tired, I think I’ll head back now.”

“Already?” She seemed upset. “I understand. Let’s head back together, then.”

As they got separated in the crossroads, Reon didn’t go back to his dorm, obviously. He went to Katana’s dorm. Knocking on the door, he prepared the worst as he knew that she was very annoyed by late night calls.

“Damn you, prick. I was at the doorstep of my dream world until you interrupted,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

“I need to talk to you, it’s important.”

“Fine, come on in.”

She then let him inside, and they sat by her table. Reon went straight to his point and asked her about her gossiping him dating Tohno. Even though she was sleepy at first, hearing Reon bringing this topic all of the sudden, all that sleepiness was gone in an instant. There was no hiding it anymore for her as she finally revealed that it was her plan all along, being a popular girl, Katana claimed that she was a “relationship” expert and took an extreme risky measure to see if Miyu was indeed interested in Reon.

“Girls don’t ask the one who was being gossiped, that’s the point of gossiping.”

He was confused even further. “I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”

“Read between the lines, Reon. She’s probably, let me spell it for you, ‘P-r-o-b-a-b-l-y’ interested in you.”

“Okay, okay. Assuming that it was right, when you do that… did Tohno know about it?”

Katana looked away, rubbing her hair. “Yeah… about that… well…”

“What?! Please don’t tell me!”

Tohno didn’t know about the truth, but there was nothing Katana could do, she didn’t know Tohno as well as Reon, she told him she couldn’t even find her on their break times, meaning she couldn’t even tell her about it. Even so, it was a terrible mistake and now they had to do something about it to prevent a misunderstanding. Katana already helped Reon so much, and thus, Reon decided to talk to Tohno by himself. The atmosphere of the post-battle still lingered, Reon guessed that Tohno should be at the cemetery, even it was midnight already.

Unsurprisingly, she was indeed there, standing silently. The two talked about the battle for a while, until Tohno brought the topic about one particular casualty in the battle.

“Legate Sayaka Satoshi… she was the commander of the 1st Legion, right?”

Tohno refused to look up. “Yeah. She was more than just a commander to me.”

“Really? Who was she to you when she lived?”

Tohno wouldn’t have to tell him if he remembered as he should’ve known. Sayaka often visited Akademeia to check on Tohno during her trainee times, back then, before Sayaka was appointed as the commander of the 1st Legion, she took a part-time job as a personal tutor for trainees after being relieved from her duties as the 3rd Legion commander, in which she personally tutored Tohno until she graduated. The two developed a mother and child bond that Tohno never had during her life. Even though Tohno could remember the dead, she never recalled having parents at all, as she was sent to the orphanage not long after she was born, nobody knew where her real parents went, she was even named at the orphanage and not by her real parents.

“ _This is so sad to hear… I can’t talk about her about that right now!_ ”

“Reon, are you okay? You’re talking to yourself again, aren’t you?”

“N-no… it’s nothing,” he said, looking away.

“I know why you’re here. But after hearing my sad story, you don’t want to tell me about it, isn’t it?”

“ _What is up with peoples lately? Did I really say it out loud?_ ”

“You did it again. If you don’t want to talk about it today, please talk—”

“No, let’s talk about it, now. Let’s sit by the stairs there.”

Gathering all of his courage in vain, he ended up shyly asking her if she knew about the gossip lingering around Akademeia about them dating each other. She heard about it and frankly didn’t know how to react. Following through calmly, Reon revealed that it was Katana’s doing to check whether if Miyu was interested in Reon or not.

“Ah… I remembered. You were interested in her, right?”

“Were? No… I still am.” he said, smiling.

“You are?” she smiled. “I’m happy for you… Reon. So what’s Katana verdict about it?”

“Well, I don’t remember the details, but, she said that Miyu was indeed interested in me.”

Tohno paused for a moment, deep inside, she was happy that Reon finally grew up and have someone to love. Tohno was a little afraid with him due to his nature as a fighter who was sent to the battlefield so often that she feared he would become an emotionless person by the time the war supposedly ended soon enough. Reon was approaching his adult age and he had to act like one if he wanted to live a normal life.

“So, how do you describe your feelings with her, Reon?”

Reon gazed to the beautiful dark skies of the night. “I only like her at first, in the past. But now, I think I’m in love with her.”

“That’s great. I’m happy for you… Reon.”

“Thank you! I’m glad I can clarify the situation here.” Reon then stretched his arms, hinting his tiredness. “I need some sleep. Do you mind if I take my leave now?”

“Not at all, I’ll stay here for some more minutes.”

Reon then stood up and prepared to leave. But as he started to leave her, he took one last glance towards her, he felt bad about telling her the truth that he loved Miyu. Strangely enough, the fact that Reon and Tohno were close had Reon thinking at one time about the possibility that they had feelings towards each other, but Reon loved Miyu with all his heart at that time, and frankly Miyu would be a better choice for him as they share a lot of things in common, contrary to Tohno, who was just too different from Reon.

Tohno spent several more minutes in the cemetery until she decided to head back to her dorm. She would soon be glad that she went back at that particular time, because just as she was about to fall asleep, someone entered her dorm, it was late midnight, who could this be?

Noticing Tohno in the room, this cadet half-shouted in shock. “Oh! I’m sorry, I thought this is my room.”

Tohno rushed to his side. “N-no, it’s fine. Are you new here?”

“Yes.” The blonde boy rubbed his head. “This is my first day on Akademeia.”

“Your cape… you’re from Class Zero, aren’t you?”

“Yes I am.” He then lifted his baggage. “I’m sorry to bother you, I’ll take my leave now.”

Tohno halted him. “I think you’re lost. I can help you on finding your room if you don’t mind.”

“Really? That’s very kind of you! Lead the way then.”

Tohno then brought him to the administration, thankfully the man in charge was still in there. After looking up through some documents, they finally found the room this cadet was looking for, this cadet’s room turned out to be next to Reon’s room. She then escorted him to the crossroads where they had to split up. This cadet seemed to be interested in her, before she left, he called her once again.

“Excuse me, but, I didn’t catch your name,” said the curious boy.

Tohno offered her hand, smiling. It was the first time this cadet saw Tohno and he already had the privilege to see her smiling.

“I’m Tohno, Tohno Mahoroha, and you are?”

“The name’s Ace. Pleasure to meet you,” he said, taking her hand.

“Well then, Ace, I should take my leave now. Have a good rest.”

“W-wait, since I’m rather new here, can you guide me the way around Akademeia later, please?” he asked, smiling innocently.

“Sure. I can wait for you here… in the noon during the break.”

“Great! I’ll be here, I promise.”

They both part their ways, and as Ace entered his new room, he could see a portrait of seven Class First cadets standing in front of the Akademeia fountain, Ace could see the expression of happiness from their faces in that portrait. This room must’ve been belonged to one of those cadets, and the fact that Ace resided in that room confirmed that the one who resided here was surely no longer among the living.

“ _Who are these guys? I think I saw two of them before, but where was it? Well, I think it’s best to not think about it now… by the Crystal, what a tiring day._ ”

Ace walked further around the room, and he discovered a chest containing a collection of several well-tempered rapiers.

“ _These are some fine blades. Too bad it’s not my style._ ”

It was a tiring day for this young Class Zero cadet, with conviction, he threw himself into the bed. He mumbled one last sentence before he fell asleep almost instantly.

“ _That girl… she’s cute, by the way. I think I like her._ ”


	13. Class Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Class Zero officially entered the history of Orience once more, consisting of 14 strong and cold cadets, what fate awaited them in this mysterious world of Orience?

**Pet. II 842 R.G.**

The next morning, Miyu was summoned by the Cadetmaster to receive the details for Class Zero’s orientation on Akademeia. Miyu was busy enough with handling the cadets that she felt that this task should go to someone else instead, and sure enough, she already had one person in mind, Reon. Upon leaving the Cadetmaster’s office, she headed to the ready room, a place where she thought this person would be. She was right, he was there having his breakfast with Katana and their fellow Class First cadets. He excused himself from his classmates and took a seat with Miyu.

After she delivered her message, Reon’s expression turned cold all of the sudden.

“Class Zero?! Seriously?”

“What’s the matter? You would only be showing them their way around Akademeia. Please help me on this, I’m very busy with other duties at the moment.”

“I don’t know, but…”

“If it helps you to decide,” Miyu handed him a bag containing a uniform, not just any uniform, but a uniform Reon always dreamed of. “You always wanted this, right?”

He couldn’t refuse it, because it was the renowned student council uniform. Furthermore, it was Miyu that asked him so after all, he wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. Giving a long sigh, he accepted it, albeit reluctantly.

Miyu’s face showed a sign of relief. “Thank you, Reon. I’m in your debt.”

“No worries. Well, we cadets should look after each other after all.”

“It’s good to hear. When you’re done, please meet me at the rooftop, I have something I wanted to talk to you.”

On the bright side, Reon would be freed from his lectures as he would be busy giving Class Zero the orientation they would be receiving soon and he would be proudly wearing the student council uniform.

After he finished his breakfast, he immediately headed to Class Zero’s lecture hall, where everyone was already waiting for him. Half of them seemed serious while the other half seemed to assume that Reon was not there at all, they were just busy with their own things, unimportant things to be exact.

Clearing his throat, Reon delivered his opening speech towards them.

“Welcome, Class Zero. From this day forth, you will live, eat, and study here on Akademeia. I’m aware that this is your first day in here, that’s why I will be showing you the way around the academy. But before that, you will meet your Commanding Officer before you’re going with me, so in the meantime, I will sit with you here while we wait until she’s here.

“Furthermore, the ones with the most questions on the tour will get a free lunch from me,” said Reon, who intended to grab the attention from those who ignored him, it worked like a charm as they finally listened to him as he continued his speech.

After he finished his speech, the Class Zero Commanding Officer finally arrived, the door echoed as everyone glanced to their backs as she entered the lecture hall. As expected, it was none other than the former Akademeia Representative, Ai Miura. Reon took his seat on the far back row on the class as Miura started her introduction, it was very short and straight to the point.

Miura prepared for the worst, and it would soon be used as Nine of Class Zero started to stood up, shouting, “We only take orders from Mother! You’re not wanted here!”

Nine approached Miura, and the situation turned dire as Nine clenched his fists and threw it right at Miura. At the nick of time, however, Miura dodged it and tackled him to the ground. Not giving Nine even a second to stand up, Miura dragged his arms and threw him across the room, it was indeed painful for Nine as he couldn’t stand up properly for some time. The others were in disbelief, Cater and Ace started to surge forward, but in one quick motion, Miura slapped Cater as she got close, throwing her across the room as well, and as Ace was inches away from her, Miura conjured her **Shining Silver Saber** and aimed it straight towards Ace’s throat, preventing him from moving further.

“Got that out of your system?” she asked, smiling.

Ace returned to his table, embarrassed, he just got owned by his CO only minutes she stepped on that door, and as for Cater and Nine, they had to be helped by the others to get back to their table. Miura was so badass that she managed to tame the three of them who resisted her command, they would soon follow her orders from that point on, surprisingly. Meanwhile, from the back seat, Reon was just smiling all the while Miura kicked their butts off, he was probably pleased seeing the Class Zero cadets in distress.

“ _Oh boy, I can watch this everyday if I wanted to._ ”

After Miura was finished with her introduction, she handed them back towards Reon who would show them the way around next. There was too many of them for Reon to handle alone, that was why he asked two of his friends before to help, they were already waiting for him in front of the lecture hall, it was his classmate Aki and Class Twelfth’s Tohno.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll split you evenly for the tour.”

Reon took Jack, Nine, Cinque, Rem, and Machina with him, as for Aki, Reon picked Deuce, Queen, Trey, Sice, and Eight for her, the rest of them would follow Tohno. There was one thing about the other day, it was Tohno’s promise to Ace to show him the way around. Fate seemd to be helping her to carry out her promise, thanks to Reon. It was probably a coincidence, but Tohno and Ace seemed happy with it nonetheless.

At the end of Reon’s tour, Machina stayed behind as requsted by Reon while the others left immediately, Jack wanted to stay as he remembered that Reon promised a free lunch for the one with the most questions, but Reon jokingly revealed that it was a lie, to Jack’s dismay, the latter ended up taking his “not free” lunch with Cinque and Nine instead.

Taking a seat on the student’s lounge, Reon had a lot to catch up with Machina.

“So you’re Machina, right? Remember me?”

“I know you. You’re Class First’s leader figure from what I’ve heard.”

Reon was surprised with this, that couldn’t be the thing he only knew about him.

“Is that all you’ve heard?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know you at all before you entered our class earlier.”

“ _By the Crystal, what has She done to him? I have to confront her on this matter._ ”

Machina then stood up. “Well, if that’s all, I’ll take my leave now.”

“Sure, good luck on your first day here on Akademeia.”

It was just all so weird for Reon, it was inexplicably sad the times they spent as trainees gone just like that, Reon was very emotional when it comes to old friends, this matter saddened him very much that he spent some minutes more in the lounge, thinking about it. In the end, he decided to confront the one he suspected to be behind it all, Dr. Arecia. It was still noon, and She should be in her Akademeia office from what Reon had seen in the schedules.


	14. Reon's Resolve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reon decided to confront Arecia. But what good would it be? He could just make things worse, as his relationship with Arecia wasn't very good at all.

**Pet. II 842 R.G.**

Reon decided to confront Arecia about Class Zero, as it was still noon, he thought that She might still be on Her office. Setting his mind straight, Reon arranged his words on what he would be asking to Her, as Arecia hated having Her time being wasted for nothing, even if it was Reon who She talked with. Upon reaching the front of her office, he knocked on the door three times, until Arecia finally opened the door and let him in. Reon took a seat opposite of Arecia’s chair, he seemed to be nervous, for an unknown reason.

“My, my, what a surprise here. What do you need, my darling?”

“Class Zero. I want to know everything.”

“Ever the ‘straight to the point’ one, are we?” Arecia’s expression turned all of the sudden. “Why ask me this now?”

“Machina, Rem, they were my friends. But when I met Machina, he’s not himself anymore. What have you done to them?”

Arecia stood up, she took few steps back and forth, eventually ending up in front of the window overlooking Orience, with her back facing Reon. She wanted to tell him about it, but she had no reason to do so.

“My darling, I can’t tell you that. You’re not part of my family anymore, remember?”

“You’re always being secretive to others to the point that everyone started to see you as a weirdo.” Reon shook his head and smirked in confidence. “See? Now this is why I didn’t want to regard you as my mother.”

In the past, everyone saw Reon as a weird kid, the Commandant even called him ‘Arecia’s lab rat’ back then. In the past, Reon was on the verge of being transferred to the Legionary boot camp due to him not fitting the criteria to become an Agito Cadet, that was until Arecia came upon him, somehow completely turning his life around.

Arecia turned around, and smiled. “So, that’s the reason you left your dear Mother. Because you’re ashamed.”

Reon was shocked. “Come again?”

“You are ashamed on who you are. You wouldn’t get it if I explain more to you.”

That burn was so sharp that Reon lost his composure, and things started to fall apart on him. Arecia was actually right, it turned out that Reon had been an ungrateful child after all she had given him. Suddenly, Reon remembered his encounter with Tohno the day before where she had lost the only mother figure she ever had. He realized that he still had that mother figure, and he acted like he didn’t have one, all the while Tohno longed for that figure.

Arecia further revealed that She never wanted to hurt any of her children, and she admitted that calling Reon a “failure” in the past was a heavy regret for Her. Unfortunately, Reon’s stubbornness got in the way, having him trying to reclaim his advantage.

“But, you called me a failure.”

“If I hadn’t call you that… would everything be different than now?”

“Why would it be?” his voice started to stutter, as if he was doubting himself.

“Class Zero, they’re my children too. But still, I still love you more than them.”

Love wasn’t necessarily shown as if everything was fine. At some point, love could be tough, as was the case where Reon was called failure by Arecia multiple times in the past. She meant it to encourage Reon to be better, not to hate Her. She had shown tough love as well to her children in Class Zero, but they just followed through, as if they were Her pets. This was a unique trait Reon possessed that the Class Zero cadets didn’t, he possessed “emotion”. Even though he was mean to Her to the point where he left Her, it proved that Reon… was a “normal” human being, with heart and emotion.

“Do you really mean that?”

Her eyes widen. “Yes, of course I mean it, from the bottom of my heart.”

Reon was just stone silent in his seat, he didn’t know what to say. His heart told him that She was right, but he had his pride. His mind was completely scrambled, it was at this moment, he finally decided to swallow his pride and admit his ungratefulness. The moment Arecia turned around, Reon was standing in front of Her.

“I’m sorry. But you’ll have to understand that life is not meant for me. I don’t want to become a machine, like apparently those Class Zero guys.”

Arecia smiled. “I understand. You make a good point. I’ll willingly tell you all about them.”

“Thank you.”

She explained him about Class Zero to the letter. The Class Zero cadets, they were actually the same as Reon, possessing magic abilities independent from the Crystal. They also possessed the ability to obtain phantoma of the living, like Reon himself. The only thing that made them different was the fact that Reon, still naturally possessed emotions to think clearly, that was the trait that made him quit his secretive way of life, despite it didn’t stop him from using those powers when he was desperate.

“So, your powers, Reon. It saved you from death during that disaster.”

Reon closed his eyes, and suddenly, he was taken back to the battlefield where he lost 5 of his close friends, it was a painful memory, even though he couldn’t remember who his friends were. This also revealed one of Reon’s weakness from his Class Zero counterparts, his emotion partially held him back from moving on, burdening him every time he stepped his foot on the battlefield. Class Zero wouldn’t understand such thing, as they never really got close to anyone without their emotions, they were essentially “machines” as per said by Reon.

Unfortunately, Reon was completely wrong. Arecia had abandoned that way of life for Class Zero, precisely on this cycle of history, unbeknownst to Reon, who definitely had no idea whatsoever on this world he lived in. Class Zero, possessed emotions, it was embedded deep inside them, awaiting to be awakened. Arecia made them so, because, Class Zero Cadets were merely golden pawns for what lied ahead at that time, all according to Her grand scheme.

“I remembered. I become a monster that day and murdered every living thing standing in front of me.”

Arecia patted him on the shoulders. “It’s fine. I know deep inside, you never wanted to use those powers again, but fate had always been cruel to force you into using those.”

“Fate… yes, you always told me that. What’s with this ‘fate’ you’re talking about? It seems like every time I’m about to die, I just went for it.”

“You are part of the gears of fate, my dear Reon. If you’re out, then the gears will stop moving.”

Reon rolled his eyes. “I don’t understand, as usual.”

“You’ll understand, in time. Furthermore, the gears are moving very slowly at the moment. But, you’ll soon meet the ones who’ll make the gears moving smoothly.”

“Alright, alright, enough with it.” Reon sighed. “But still, I’m grateful for what you’ve given me, Doctor.”

“Your welcome. Use those powers whenever you saw fit, I won’t forbid you.”

“Thank you, Doctor Arecia,” said Reon, whom never called Her by name for a very long time.

Arecia gestured for a hug, and Reon gladly took it. Even though they couldn’t recover their mother and child bonds, they resolved their hanging guilt against each other. It was enough, for both of them.

“Very well then. Let’s proceed to other matter, then.”

She told him the news about Rubrum, Concordia, and Lorica’s plan to celebrate their alliance by holding a feast in the Lorican Capital, all of the important members of respective nations were invited to attend, including Arecia Herself. Although, She told Reon that She intended not to attend it, for some reason. Aside from the Consortium members, Rubrum would also be represented by cadets from Class Zero, Class First, and Class Ninth. This would be an important event, and they had to attend it as a gesture of goodwill towards the other nations.

Reon frowned. “Class Ninth? Why would those guys go?”

“You know them, they’re our public image and all.”

Reon smirked, because he knew that was only their front. “Of course they are.”

“You will be attending it, alongside Class Zero. Maybe that will be the best time to get to know them.”

“ _Class Zero?_ ” Reon hated that thought. “I’ll think about it.”

“I know you don’t like them that much, but you see, Miss Miyu would also attend the feast.”

Reon narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? Just how many people know about that?”

“I know everything.”

One thing still bothered his mind even though he resolved his matters with Arecia, it was on why She didn’t want to attend the feast, he knew that Arecia was known to “not showing up” on many Consortium matters, but this feast was an important event, and Arecia should’ve felt the obligation to attend it. The only one who knew why Arecia didn’t want to attend was Arecia Herself.

After being given the invitation letters, Reon was about to leave Her office to spread the news to his classmates, until an unexpected guest showed up.

“Ace, my darling! What brings you here today?”

“Mother… I’m going out with someone today!”


	15. Chapter of Truth II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One might say that Arecia's love to her child, Reon, was genuine. But one could also say that she loved him only to ensure everything went as planned... before the world started anew.

**Outside the Spiral, on the dawn of the new cycle,**

The world started anew, and Arecia finally could rest as she waited until the time came once again. This time, she returned the three souls back to the world where they belonged at first, she hoped that this time, maybe this time, everything would go as planned. Her rival, the one with different method on their mission to seek out to open the Etro’s gate, seemed to agree that things would play out differently with those three in play. It was a rare sight that these two met each other before a new cycle was started.

“My, my, what a surprise. What brings you here?”

“Things will be different this time.”

Arecia seemed interested. “Such as?”

“That boy. You remember him?”

“Look, Gala, There’s millions of souls, you could be more specific.”

Gala took the tome containing the memories of the dead from the previous cycle, and he pointed Arecia who he meant, it was a boy, who lived his life differently when a certain someone was casted away from Orience to serve Arecia. Most things played the same, his parents were both veteran Legionaries, and his sister was an Agito Cadet. Their fates were also the same, they died, protecting the very lives of Rubran citizens. As for the boy…

“He never became a Cadet since you casted her away.”

Arecia was starting to get annoyed. “Stop talking in circles. Just tell me what your point is.”

Gala kept on talking in circles, the boy he was talking about, became an ordinary Legionary, being unable to surpass the expectations of the top brasses of Akademeia on becoming an Agito Cadet. He served on the front lines at a very young age of 18, and then one day, this boy volunteered to join “Forlorn Hope” regiment on the decisive battle on the Big Bridge, becoming the commander of that regiment himself.

“Forlorn Hope?” Arecia’s interest started to surface. “Yes, the very vanguards of the Dominion of Rubrum.”

“He did make a lasting impression there, being able to secure the foothold on the bridge, only for us, though.”

“And why is that only for us?”

“Because he died for it, and nobody even remembered his deeds.”

It happened hundred times as they went through the repeating cycles of history, but Arecia never give a single thought about it, as he was nothing more than a Legionary. Although…

“So why tell me this? And didn’t I tell you to stop talking in circles?”

Gala seemed to be calmer than ever. “His life? Let me refresh your memory. When that special someone was around on the first cycle, he became an Agito Cadet, albeit he was still useless.”

“Interesting. Go on.”

The boy, lived an uneventful life and died as a Class Twelfth cadet on the first cycle. The thing that motivated him to become a cadet was a feeling for that “special someone”, even though he died never confessing that feeling towards her. Furthermore, that special someone didn’t even know him at that time, and thus, his feeling was an unrequited one. Moving further through the cycles, he started to climb his way up, and that feeling also climbed as well, with him starting to get close with her within each cycle passed. On the very last cycle before Arecia casted his special someone away, he died, as a Class First cadet, on the floors of Akademeia’s Fountain Courtyard, defending the Vermillion Bird statue from the hordes of Rursan monsters who was sent by his special someone who turned out to be the Arbiter of Fate itself.

“You’re telling me he will play a crucial role in this cycle, with her around?”

“Yes, you might want to take care of him as one of your own.”

“What about my children? Whom you despised so much?”

Gala laughed. “Them? They’re useless, but not that useless. I mean, seriously? Power of Acceptance? Knowledge? Innocence? And every other nonsense powers? You don’t need them.”

“I will curse myself for ever listening to you. So, what do I need?”

“We have the same goal. To open the gates of Unseen Realm. Let’s go back to the very basic logic here, what do you need to open a gate?”

Arecia thought about it for a while, the answer was actually very simple.

“You need a key.”

“Exactly. That boy and his special someone, one of them will or at least could become the key… with the help from those children of yours.”

Arecia only believed a small part of what he said, she did believe that the boy’s special someone was very powerful, She acknowledged that this someone was even more powerful than Her children. Unfortunately, fate had always been cruel, that someone was always out of Her reach as she, in truth, turned out to serve Gala all her life. She only started serving Arecia when she was casted away from the experiment. But now, everything could be different, with that person finally unchained with any influence from the two, this… could be their breaking point. Sadly, Arecia was a stubborn woman, She had Her pride, and still believed that Her children were the keys to Etro’s gate.

“Like I’m going to believe a single word coming from your mouth,” said Arecia, starting to leave Him at the same time.

Gala stopped Her from leaving. “Believe me, just for this one time. Don’t you want a rest? After all this fruitless efforts? I resolved to be working together with you this time, and I expect you to do the same.”

Arecia let out a long sigh. “Fine. I’ll believe you, but only for this one time.”

“Good. Now let us commence forth.”

Although everything seemed to be clear, Arecia still had no clue on how one person could turn the other person’s life completely around, She was aware that there might be some differences in cycles, on how one’s life would play out and whatnot, but the boy Gala was talking about, he was completely different.

“Why he’s different? Simple, he always loved that person you took away from Orience.”

“What’s this boy’s name, again?”

“Reon, Reon Kurayami.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

**Author's Note:**

> This fiction is longer than I expected, this second arc of Warriors of Vermillion haven't reached the middle part yet as I wrote it, and thus, I decided to do the other half as Part 3 instead.


End file.
